the house senate and white house need cuts too.
Well, someone has to sacrifice so the Illegals can get their freebees.....
I have a better idea! Why not cut the retirement benefits of Congress to the quick? They g9ot us here. It’s onl;y fair!
It makes perfect sense.
The military is about the only thing Washington has got right.
It therefore needs to be f - up as soon as possible.
How are the health and pension benefits of military retirees, social welfare? Umm...I would argue my husband earned it, unlike some others.
Current retirees will not be affected by this, and not even a homosexual, drag queen or militant lesbian in the age of Obammy will think this “deal” is worth enlisting/reenlisting for no matter how many of his/her/its’ buddies go to sea with him/her/it.
Just one more way to disassemble that nasty old DOD and get AlGore’s long-sought “peace dividend”....
The pension was fully prepaid. Since 1984, the services have been required to set aside almost 1/3 of everyone’s base pay to provide for full funding of retirement.
Changing to a 401K system will INCREASE costs.
I earned my military retirement, and it is a small sum of money, about $16,000 a year, not even enough to make my house payment.
Even Jon Stewart skewered it.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-17-2009/that-can-t-be-right-—veterans—health-insurance
Then he tried to freeze their pay for three years - it got shot down quickly, but he did it for social security - but don't call it a CUT!
they’ll gladly go after the pensions of military personnel... the people, above all others, that deserve a pension...
meanwhile, not one peep about all the money pouring into the local, state, and federal worker pensions. all the ‘public employees’ that made 2-3 times avg salary in HIGHLY stable jobs and retired on 6-figure pension plans.
cut THOSE pensions first... then *maybe* i’d consider looking elsewhere.
I sent this to my congressman and senators. I think it speaks for itself:
In considering any changes to the military retirement pay system, please remember that: a) we served a minimum of 20 years to qualify,
b) It starts at 40 - 50 % of base pay depending on date of enlistment, it’s based on service 24 days per week, 52 weeks per year with sacrifice to self and family.
To save money, you might want to think about restructuring the tax funded congressional, senatorial retirement system and healthcare systems. A twenty year requirement as opposed to a completed one term requirement would be more in line today’s working man. Scaling back on staff and tax paid travel would also be a step in the right direction. Finally, I think that a resolution on your part that all congressmen and senators whose net worth is over $250,000 demonstrate leadership and institute a voluntary payback to the government of 25% of government income over and above what you already pay.
In light of the current talk and murmurs coming out of the beltway, I think that you will see that is a more than fair beginning to address a problem where the taxpaying vet is being asked to make sacrifices. I suggest that this is an opportunity for you to make the sacrifices that you want us to make. What do you think?
Welfare??? Piss off, coot.
Welfare??? Piss off, coot.
Let’s start will all civilian federal employees, including Congress and the White House, immediately shifting to 401K retirement plans FIRST.
CHECK out the recent post on the cuts...I just posted it under editorials. Also, read this on a blog .. can’t believe that these idiots don’t think that the military should be entitled to retirement after 20 years. Obviously, they have not served. Active duty isn’t going clocking in the morning and going home in the evening. Active duty is giving up your life for 20 years of being told where to live, when to work, and leaving your family for months on end. It’s 24/7/365 job. It’s not like any other job in the world. So many Military members have missed out on birthdays, anniversaries, births, and other life changing events. I don’t think there is a current Congress member that would leave their family for an entire year to do their job. But the military has to. There are so many sacrifices that a person makes for 20 years. After 20 years they deserve to rake in the benefits. So what if they double retire? If it’s such a great deal then why are only 13% doing it? Why not come up with a system that benefits everyone in the military? What’s wrong with promoting a contributory retirement plan in ADDITION to the 20 year retirement plan? And for those that have the “tougher” jobs, those that qualify for hazardous duty pay should be paid more based on the amount of years hazardous duty pay was earned. I always ask civilians that complain about how great the military retirement and benefits are “Well, why aren’t you in the military? Why don’t you join? Why don’t you encourage your kids to join?” They all want to complain about the “great perks”.....but they don’t want to give up their freedom of being able to punch that clock in the morning and being able to do whatever they want in the evening, weekends, holidays. They don’t want to miss out on life changing family events....but they still want to complain about how easy the Military Members have it after they retire. IDIOTS!!!