Posted on 05/02/2012 5:07:10 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Retired College Teacher With $152,000 Pension Claims Pension Reform is Theft
April 27, 2012 By Bill Zettler
Michael Corn, a retired college teacher, recently wrote a letter-to-the-editor at the Daily Herald equating the unfunded Illinois pension system with theft. And I agree it is theft but I would argue the thief is the public employee not the legislature or taxpayer as Mr. Horn claims.
Mr. Corn laments that he paid 8% for his pension and for that unholy contribution he feels he has earned his $12,707.59 monthly pension or $152,490.84 per year. Mr. Corn paid his 8% for all of 31 years too. Wow that’s impressive. The rest of us have to work 40 or 45 year careers in order to get our pension (Social Security) at age 62 or 67 respectively. But then again teachers are special.
Now the greedy private sector taxpayers, the weirdo 95% of citizens without state pensions, who are responsible for paying for Mr. Corn’s $152,490.84 annual pension, contribute 6.2% to their own pension (called Social Security) and at age 62 after 40 years of contributions can take down a huge maximum pension of $22,260 annually or about one-seventh of Mr. Corn’s annual pension. So Mr. Corn contributes at a rate 22% higher but for 9 fewer years but receives 7 times the pension. And Mr. Corn retired earlier too at age 59. What a terrible deal for Mr. Corn. No wonder he is complaining.
(Excerpt) Read more at championnews.net ...
By this same logic, liberalism is theft.
college teachers who can’t add
“...as Mr. Horn claims. Mr. Corn laments...”
Is it Horn or Corn? I must need more coffee or something.
Stop blaming the teacher and start blaming the system.The guy went into the profession knowing what the future outcome would be as far as present pension payments would be . Why is he getting hammered for making a career decision that was a hell of a lot better than 90% of the people in the state. He planed his retirement on that future payout and should be entitled to every penny of it.Arguments that are negative about public pension payouts are the same as the 99% wackos complaining about banks and corporation profits.In life you make decisions. It seems that this guys decision on career was better than the complainers.
Bill, please tell me you have not worked that long and are only planning on Social Security for you retirement income.
Mr. Corn (or possibly Horn) is quite correct. He entered into a good faith contract which is now being backed out of. He is entirely logical to consider this theft.
However.
He presumably supported a decades-old scam under which politicians were elected to office essentially by pandering to the teachers’ and other unions, then paid for their election by agreeing to unsustainable pension plans and other benefits.
Pension plans were always a popular payoff because they could be kicked down the road a decade or two. The pols would be out of office by then, so they wouldn’t have to take the heat when their promises turned out to be impossible to meet.
In the final analysis, it’s the fault of We the People. The vast majority of us, including myself, were unwilling to get down in the mud to do the dirty work of ensuring fiscal sanity.
This is a classic example of regulatory capture. When a small group with intense interest in a particular issue is pitted against a far larger group with diffused (in reality no) interest in an issue, the small group will tend to get its own way 90% of the time.
Elections to school boards and municipal/state offices are of little interest to most people. Why should they be? So who gets elected tends to be those who pander most successfully to those who do care, public employees. These pols then wind up negotiating essentially with those who hired them as to how to spend someone else’s money.
The main issue is that when something is unsustainable, it will not be sustained.
Bingo! A stoggie for Renegade...the teach is just insisting on what was promised to him. If the idiot system is so screwed up that it makes commitments like this...pay up suckkas.
Thank you Renegade! I lamented awhile back about a group wanting to take my Hub’s pension away (he paid in about 9% over 30 years)here in Texas. My Hub’s pension isn’t ANYWHERE near Mr. Corn’s but he paid into it, the City of Houston entered into a contract with him and now the city is trying to crawfish on these retired employees. Needless to say, and much to my disappointment there were more on this forum that thought it was all right than those who did not. We’re in a minority on here Renegade.
You analyzed the situation correctly.
But since when do gubbermints keep their word?
Actually, he is largely correct. He had a contract with the state. The state agreed to pay X each year while he worked, and then Y each year after he left. No one forced the state to make that contract, and the people elected the politicians who approved it.
If the state wants to renegotiate based on inability to pay, let the state go bankrupt and renegotiate ALL of its debt.
Was it theft when OJ re-stole his trophies?
He’s perfectly fond of grandfather agreements, whereby teachers like me get screwed over, and have zero pensions, than taking a cut in his.
Who cares if the system collapses so long as he gets his? Thanks!
Actually, you have analyzed the situation right on the “money”.
This teacher, all the other teachers, all social security pensioners, all those who rely neither private pensions or social security but their own savings... will eventually get Nada, when the system collapses in chaos.
A reminder is in order that the operational debt as of yesterday was 101% of GDP.
And rising.
“(he paid in about 9% over 30 years)”
Are you happy with the current system whereby the young’uns get no pension whatsoever so that we can work and pay the other 91 percent of yours?
Where do you think the pension money is coming from?
"Austerity" is when the government has to say, "I know we made promises. I know you made life choices based on what we told you. I know you planned your retirement based on this stuff. But the money isn't there, and we cannot hold up our end of the bargain. Basically, you're screwed."
That conversation is going on across Europe now. In the US, the public service employee unions, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid -- all of these areas will find the Government saying, "I know what we promised you -- but you're screwed."
Big changes are coming, because there is no money.
The largest pension in Illinois currently for a college professor is near $425,000.. that my friend is theft!
I’m sure many of us HAD planned for our retirement, but between the losses since 2008, and the rumors of the Ear Leader and his cohorts wanting to “tap” retirement funds for their ever-growing hunger for revenue. . . I’m not sure many of us TRUST that plan any more. . .
Going forward though, new hires need to be given much more believable benefits.
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.