Pension Debt Exceeds 40k Per Household

American Interest ^ | May 12, 2016 | Staff

[Buckeye McFrog]

where they have put pension reform to vote, it has been shot down in court. Same happened in IL.

Yup. Which is WHY they were desperate to pack our Supreme Court before the case came up. Pulled out ALL the stops (including running a CASH PRIZE LOTTERY to turn out the riffraff vote in Philly)

[trebb]

I hear you - it's just that many try to lump all government workers into the same bundle. While far too many are as you say, there are a lot of Patriotic professionals sprinkled in and sometimes we see a blanket statement and feel the need to mention that there are some good ones.

Happy FReeping.

[trebb]

There is a problem with your analysis. “Your money” does not exist, and in many cases hasn’t yet been earned by people who haven’t been born yet so they can be taxed to give you “your” money.

I guess it takes an engineer to look at the specs that way - we served the People while working for the government and earned our pay and our "perks". Many of us would have been better off financially and had more stability if not for serving the Nation as the first line of defense against those who would destroy us and many gladly went into harm's way and paid the ultimate price for it. If the Nation considers that to be an inconvenient burden, then they deserve a string of Obamas and Hillarys and a total destruction of the Constitution and the Freedoms that were paid for by the blood of those who chose that path while others suffered the inconveniences of wars and taxes (which we pay too even if our income source is from other taxes).

Don't blame us for the politicians who have opted to throw potential surpluses away by giving them to the leeches and then doubling down by finding new and ingenious ways to raise the ante in order to buy votes in return for "free" stuff.

It is the politicians that bloated the government teat by "employing" a bunch of deadbeats as part of the "liberal" agenda to erase all our Freedoms.

Then we refuse to take proper care of those who have been injured/killed, and their families for their own sacrifices. It is obnoxious that we need charities like Disabled Vets and Wounded Warrior and such - like it opr not, there really are some places where the Nation/People owe others their just (and well earned) due.

[arl295]

New Jersey has different laws

The pension debt has not been approved by the voters so they are putting it up for vote this year to us voter

Of course I am voting it down

hopefully it gets defeated

Then we are off the hook for the pension

[AppyPappy]

“Since the taxpayers never agreed to them in the first place”

Do the taxpayers have to agree to every contract the government signs?

[randita]

This is yet another reason the middle class is shrinking. The government has taken so much of their money to buy the support of the public sector unions that there isn’t any money left to fund their own retirement savings.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I’m curious....where does Governor Krispy Kreme stand on this pension vote?

[RFEngineer]

“I guess it takes an engineer to look at the specs that way - we served the People while working for the government and earned our pay and our “perks””

Friend, I was in the military. I know the drill. It can be a very tough way to earn a retirement, and it can be a very easy way to earn a retirement. There is a large amount of fraud in military “disability” percentages at the end of service.

I don’t begrudge anyone their benefits, but we already spend half the defense budget on it.

We simply do not have the money to pay for 40 years of retirement for everyone in the military, or federal civilian employment.

It does not matter if you really did earn it or not.

That apparently comes as a surprise to you.

[Rusty0604]

The unions were happy about Scalia’s demise because with him they would have lost the forced dues case, it ended up a tie vote so they won.

[arl295]

I assume he would say vote “no” but I think he is staying out of it for political reason

One thing Christie is not a friend of and that is the public sector unions

[arl295]

If it involves enslaving the next generation to pay for it, I would say it is both a moral and civil duty to do so

In New Jersey you can not enslave the tax payers with out a public vote

The pension of course is debt, it is a debt that no one knows exactly what is owed. It is slavery for the tax payers

[trebb]

Could have easily gotten 40-50% disability and opted not to apply. We waste far more on illegals/lazy leeches/"special projects" than we do on military pensions.

When I was a DOD Civilian and "they" were shutting down the government so we wouldn't get paid for at least a while - I rooted for the shutdown and tried to get actually laid off so one of my not so well off folks could work and be assured of the back pay.

If they stop all the truly wasteful spending, and there isn't enough left over, then Ill change my tune. Until then, I consider it my money even though I'm keenly aware that I may not get what is due.

Not a fair assessment to decide that 'we simply don't have it" w/o addressing that the bureaucrats likely are wasting at least 40% of all that is spent on things that do not deserve the expenditure.

At any rate - thanks for your service and I hope you get all that you earned w/o it causing excessive pain among the "women and children" of the future.

[RFEngineer]

“Could have easily gotten 40-50% disability and opted not to apply.”

Most people play along with the fraud.

The justification of government spending, including benefits paid to government/military employees ought to be a bit more compelling than “We waste more than that on other programs”

It is ABSOLUTELY fair to say “we don’t have the money” to pay for everything - when that is the problem we are facing.

[trebb]

It is ABSOLUTELY fair to say “we don’t have the money” to pay for everything - when that is the problem we are facing.

Understood - I prefer to ask why we don't have the money and what can be done to fix it while allowing some things to be properly funded.

18 years ago I was back in college to get a degree. One of my classes was economics adn I did a paper on wasted tax money. I cited over 600 sources and looked at as much as I could. I came to the conclusion we could reduce taxes by 46% (a few fractions highr but rounded down) and fully fund all the legitimate programs if our congress-critters were to exercise fiscal responsibility. My professor had suggested I use that topic because he thought my attitudes might push me to do some effective research. He later told me that he was a bit more hard core than I and that his figures were a tad north of 50%.

Reality can be changed with the proper motivation. The question is do we want to accept the current reality where we don't have the money or do we want to change it so we can literally have our cake and eat it too. My favorite cake is German Chocolate and I would love to have it while eating copious slabs of it.

We can't change what the Truth was and currently is, but we can change what the Truth is in the future.

Sorry about the original slap about "it takes an engineer" - I have enjoyed the discourse on the topic.