Posted on 09/08/2011 10:11:16 AM PDT by Early2Rise
The Post Office is not able to repay $5.5 billion in loans from the Treasury Department. The huge cost of postal retirement benefits is one of the reasons an American institution may collapse.
This is not the fault of the workers. They did their jobs and are entitled to what was negotiated. But public money has run out, and big changes will have to be made if the American economy is to expand. Jimmy Hoffa can huff and puff all day long, but if he succeeds in blocking economic reform, he will indeed blow the entire house down.
President Obama needs union votes to win reelection. Therefore, he did not condemn Hoffa's over-the-top rhetoric even though he campaigned for verbal restraint in his Arizona speech. Mr. Obama will also not go up against the unions and demand fiscal reform. He will position himself as the champion of the working stiff, even if it means more disasters like the Post Office.
Previously in this space, I discussed my membership in AFTRA, a union that represents TV and radio people. When some greedy suits tried to con me and my colleagues at the syndicated program "Inside Edition" out of pension money, AFTRA fought them and won. So, unions are needed, but they should be optional. No American worker should be forced to pay union dues. Employees must weigh self-reliance against union protections.
With union power in decline, Jimmy Hoffa needs an enemy to rail against, and the Tea Party provides him that. But if he were honest, Hoffa would see the Tea folks simply want financial responsibility and fairness in the public sector. Living within your means is a key to economic success. Gaming the system through intimidation and threats is not.
Hoffa's not looking out for his country on this one.
(Excerpt) Read more at billoreilly.com ...
The real issue here is that the future costs are not fully funded by current spending to buy the appropriate annuity.
That’s why defined contribution plans like 401ks are so much more prevalent these days than defined benefit plans.
You can carefully structure a Roth IRA to do the same thing. Most people will probably have to work part time even during ‘retirement’. Most of the happier people I know over 65 keep some type of income producing activity going, or they are helping with family work which is tremendously valuable.
Why would anyone want to retire then go to work making 1/3 or less of what they were making and no benefits. I would just as soon work at my present job until I keel over dead.
The people I have in mind retired with benefits and are just keeping busy. Some professionsa have mandatory retirement ages (military, police, etc). If you’re one of those people that can just keep happily plowing on more power to you! My father managed construction sites into his early seventies and I have a great uncle who founded several import/export companies after 65. Billy Graham often make the point the the Bible never mentions retirement.
Some, just some? Tell me you don’t mean only some!
Some Americans want to put a lid on public sector pensions and perks
How about ALL Americans who pay taxes and Do Not work for the government want a lid on public employee wages and benefits that have gotten out of control?
Full quote:
There’s lots of angst in the air after Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa called Tea Party people SOB’s and urged voters to “take them out.” Immediately, voter registration jumped among members of the Gambino family. Apparently, Mr. Hoffa is angry that some Americans want to put a lid on public sector pensions and perks which are bankrupting municipalities all over the country. Old Jimmy believes this is “taking the bread out of the mouths” of American workers.
I hope it’s more than some, quite a few people feel the opposite............
What Hioffa doesn’t understand is that the Tea Party consists mostly of the Middle Class in this country. But wait a minute! That is exactly who the Communists target first in their muscle-in exercises! They want to take out the Middle Class!
If the unions want pensions, the members should pay into them, and the unions manage the entire operation. As long as the government is not responsible for those pensions, meaning the tax payers, then I have no qualms about pensions. But if pension money comes out o9f the ta payers’ pockets, I do!
I’d settle for that, but you also have to consider the private colleges and other nonprofits, lawyers, plenty of doctors, what few manufacturing union workers remain, and of course tax accountants who are sympathetic to this issue.
Their central thesis is that only by overpaying can we avoid a return to the sweatshop days.
They are very good at mob psychology! Everyone should read Anne Coulter’s “Demonic”. It tells the true story.
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.