Posted on 02/25/2011 8:10:46 PM PST by tcrlaf
Pulitzer Prize winning tax reporter, David Cay Johnston, has written a brilliant piece for tax.com exposing the truth about who really pays for the pension and benefits for public employees in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans.
Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, creates the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.
How can this be possible? Simple. The pension plan is the direct result of deferred compensation- money that employees would have been paid as cash salary but choose, instead, to have placed in the state operated pension fund where the money can be professionally invested (at a lower cost of management) for the future.
Many of us are familiar with the concept of deferred compensation from reading about the latest multi-million dollar deal with some professional athlete.
A review of the state’s collective bargaining agreements – many of which are available for review at the Wisconsin Office of State Employees web site - bears out that it is no different for state employees. The numbers are just lower.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
This illustrates semantic hogwash. The deferred comp is nothing less than a cut from a bloated salary. Just another way government employees true cost to the public is subsadized and hidden. A closer examination would show other areas of public gouging. Government apologists are very good at this kind of semantics.
Comment1 completely missed the point of the article. The article says that even though they pay nothing, it's the same as them paying 100%. What is the rationale behind this claim and why can it be made?
It is nearly impossible to gage what a public sector employee providing a ‘free’ (by nature a monopoly) service is worth in compensation; and all their money: pay, retirement, political contributions to Democrats, tuition to send THEIR kids to private schools, comes from taxpayers. So their compensation is determined purely by politics as we see in this epic battle.
The Political Economy of Government Employee Unions (they are the servants, not the masters)
Liberals are right about one thing, this is ground zero battle. In fact I heard Jesse Jackson use this term on TV just today as he was with one of the WI Democrat Senators in Chicago who gave a speech for Move-on Push. Who is the master and who is the servant?
Thanks for posting this.
Old geezer... wow the disrespegt that some people have for the elderly is astounding...
So, I’m curious what should happen to the pensions of the individuals whom have invested into them then.
“What you faid to realize is that if the money doesn’t exist, then it doesn’t matter what contractual obligations are owed the public unions.”
What you fail to understand is that many public sector retirement benefits are protected by State Constitutions, thus they MUST find the money to pay retirees, whether it be from general funds, issuing bonds, raising state taxes, etc. Unless you can think of a way to get around a State Constitution, which I doubt you can. Now, if there is no protection constitutionally within a State, then they can go after benefits to their hearts’ content.
It is the same sort of dilemma to phase out SS. People that have retired or are about to retire wouldn't see any changes. Younger people would contribute to super 401K's and medical 401K's. If you have enough money in the accounts and want to retire at 50, why not? Taxing the hell out someone and forcing them to work until 65+ is slavery in my book even if one is a government employee..
Government workers should have the ability to take their retirement funds with them without severe penalty if they want to move to the private sector. Increased vesting periods may help shore up the pension funds, but sure isn't healthy for the agencies. At some point they will be loaded up with seasoned citizens who are at the dentist, doctors office, or on disability and don't really give a crap about working.
Yeah I don’t think enriching the wall St. crooks is the plan either..
You can invest in low expense mutual funds with the likes of Vanguard, Fidelity, and etc. Where people get ripped off is having some 401K custodian acting as an intermediary to the mutual fund company and they ding the account +2% a year for fees. Taking a loss on stocks isn't getting ripped off.
This was in FORBES???
I see from your profile that you work at a major university. From your arguments regarding guarantees, am I going to far to assume that you work at a public university, and have a public pension?
A better question might be, how is it you are so familiar with what Daily Kos and other lefty blogs are featuring?
I see from your profile that you work at a major university. From your arguments regarding guarantees, am I going to far to assume that you work at a public university, and have a public pension?
You have a penchant for the obvious. I’m real tired of reading all of the bashing of all gov’t employees on these threads, as if all people are the same. They aren’t. One of my relatives is a retired conservative politician; does that mean that is an evil unfair pension getter? Same with John Boehner, Jim DeMint, Sarah Palin, etc. Are they all shiftless coniving out to get their fellow workers, unworthy, never did an honest day’s work bums too? I’m so sick of the constant bashing of all gov’t workers that I could puke. And expecially amongst certain freepers who should know better.
By the way, do you have any idea how many fellow Freepers have had gov’t jobs in their lifetime as well? If you guess a whole heap of them, then you would be right. So, a little fine tuning of the constant slurs against all who work in some state or federal gov’t capacity would be appreciated, and I might add for the most part of my career I made diddly squat in salary; the expectation was that I would get a decent benefit package in lieu of a lousy salary for most of my working years. So, all of those people who are out in the private sector who used to make tons more money than I ever did in my lifetime in salary, and for whom the worm has now turned and the public sector does better at both salary and benefits, I begrudge you nothing in thinking the pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction and public salaries/pensions now need to be reigned in.
However, I do begrudge you the constant denigration of your fellow public servants who also worked all of their lives to feed and clothe themselves and their families and actually did an honest day’s work for their money, contrary to what too many of you seem to want to believe. I might add, before I worked for a public state university, I worked for 20 years in the PRIVATE sector, so I know both sides of the coin. Do you?
Thanks for the sob story. In the meantime, I suggest that you should rethink your political party.
You are my opposition, and the opposition of everybody else in the private sector., flaglady47. Political parties don’t mean much anymore. Leeches like you mean everything, and I’m sick of you and your ilk’s excuses.
You are my opposition, and the opposition of everybody else in the private sector., flaglady47. Political parties don’t mean much anymore. Leeches like you mean everything, and I’m sick of you and your ilk’s excuses.
You dear sir, are a cad of the first order, a bitter, denigrating, excuse for a man. Unfortunately, too many of your ilk have infested an otherwise fine website. And the gauntlet has been thrown down. I consider you scum and you are persona non grata as far as I am concerned. Take your bile elsewhere and do not respond to any of my comments in the future. You don’t exist in my book. And I pity any person who has to deal with your personally. Buzz off.
I hope everyone remembers the screen name "Carling" and shuns you like the plague.
What a shameful and ugly person you are.
Leni
You are protecting you own public pension that come from the backs of true conservatives in the private sector. I think that makes you a RINO, doesn’t it? If this leads to me being banned from this site, so be it.
Enjoy your pension that is bankrupting those of us paying for you and your lecherous lifestyle.
Leni
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.