Free Republic

Two key House Democrats will roll out legislation Thursday that would revoke a lifetime pension and other taxpayer-funded perks from former presidents who are convicted of felonies during or after office. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who leads the Democrats’ campaign arm, and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have authored the Restoring and Enforcing Accountability of Presidents (REAP) Act. It would reform the Former Presidents Act of 1958 by stripping past presidents convicted of felony of their $219,200 annual pension, office space and a budget to pay for staff. The legislation does not impact lifetime Secret Service protection for...

The proposed legislation heads to the French Senate amid criticism that it stigmatizes Muslims PARIS—France’s National Assembly approved a bill Tuesday that aims to strengthen government oversight of mosques and religious schools and crack down on other practices—from online hate speech to forced marriage—that President Emmanuel Macron says are rooted in Islamist separatism. The proposed legislation passed the National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, with a vote of 347-151, garnering support from lawmakers in Mr. Macron’s ranks as well as other centrist parties. It now heads to the Senate. Mr. Macron and his supporters in Parliament have framed the...

A New York City firefighter has been moonlighting as a stuntman — while also raking in a $136,684-a-year disability pension, The Post has learned. Firefighter John A. McGinty retired with the lucrative annual payout in 2016 after 25 years with the FDNY. But it turns out McGinty, 58, has been working for years as a professional movie stuntman, according to his own LinkedIn page. McGinty — who also goes by the stage name John Mack — says he is adept at fighting, driving stunts, falls below 30 feet and small fires, according to a profile on management site CMG Talent.

The future of our nation is at risk if we don't take action to reverse the damage that has been done to marriage, family, and parenting in 21st-century America. Perhaps the most important document to come out of the U.S. Senate this year was released last month, and while a report on President Donald Trump’s tax returns, another COVID-19 relief package, or infrastructure legislation likely would have gotten major media attention, this important document flew under the radar. The report, titled “The Demise of the Happy Two-Parent Home” and produced by the Social Capital Project of the Joint Economic Committee...

North Chicago, IL – Three former North Chicago police officers who retired on disability after being injured in the line of duty will possibly have their pensions revoked for failing to comply with the city’s order to return to work for the department’s 911 center. North Chicago city leaders invoked a rarely-used state law to order a total of nine retired, disabled officers back to work in May of 2019, the Chicago Tribune reported. Use of the law is so infrequent, it is unclear whether it has ever been utilized in the past.

llinois Democrats are demanding $41 billion from the federal government for coronavirus relief, including $10 billion for Illinois's cash-strapped and underfunded public pension plan. The most fiscally mismanaged state in the union, which has criminally neglected funding its public pension fund for two decades, wants Washington to pull its chestnuts out of the fire? Certainly, states should get something. But what Illinois is asking for is shocking. “I realize I’ve asked for a lot, but this is an unprecedented situation, and we face the reality that there likely will be additional, unanticipated costs that could result in future requests for...

The president of the State Senate asked for $40 billion to help the pension system, fund unemployment insurance and aid hospitals and cities. Illinois needs more than $40 billion in relief from the federal government because of the coronavirus pandemic — including $10 billion to help bail out its beleaguered pension system, according to a letter the Illinois Senate president sent to members of Congress. The letter, sent this week by State Senator Don Harmon, also seeks a $15 billion grant to “stabilize the state’s budget,” $9.6 billion in direct aid to Illinois’s cities, $6 billion for the state’s unemployment...

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Thursday said that he has written a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to voice concerns over the state's public pension fund chief and his connections with China. The Indiana congressman is calling out the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest state pension fund in the U.S., for allegedly investing in numerous select blacklisted Chinese companies that manufacture military products. The California-based fund invested $3.1 billion into 172 different Chinese companies, Banks said in an appearance on Fox Business Network. He said that some of the companies invested in have been blacklisted...

"Brown highlighted what he feels are low pensions for older retired players. For those who retired before 1993, the rate is about $2,500 a month for a player who spent seven years in the league. Brown called it “shockingly, immorally, low.”

Due to a pension sweetener available only to veteran Illinois lawmakers, Cullerton’s annual pension will soon be more than he ever made from his Statehouse salary. Illinois’ second-longest serving lawmaker announced Nov. 14 that he will retire in January 2020. But the departure of Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, highlights one example of how pension sweeteners Illinois lawmakers passed decades ago are putting taxpayers on the hook for extravagant benefits today. Cullerton is set to receive more than $2 million in state pension payments over the course of his retirement, should he live to age 85. He will take home...

The German government struck a deal on Sunday to guarantee a basic pension for low-income workers after months of rising tensions over the issue that threatened to spark a government crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had been butting heads with their coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), over how to execute the plan. In the future, people who receive small pensions despite paying into the system for decades should expect to receive more money. Pensioners will have to undergo an income review in order to qualify...

div class="single-post-content post-content drop-cap"> Congratulations! Your retirement planning paid off. You built a $1 million retirement nest egg. But how long will $1 million last in retirement? Retirement Planning To Make Your $1 Million Last Let's say you're 65 years old and earn $115,000 a year. That's a decent annual income, but it's no king's ransom. It's enough to let you sock away good chunks of money each year. But it's not so high that it trips over income limits when it comes to saving in a retirement plan such as a 401(k).The simple arithmetic answer to the how-long-will-it-last retirement...

East St. Louis is short $9.5 million between a budget deficit and back payments owed to its fire and police pensions. As a result, city leaders are closing a firehouse and laying off nine firefighters. Nine firefighters have been asked to hand in their gear and their fire station will temporarily close as East St. Louis, Illinois, faces a $5.5 million budget deficit and interception of nearly $4 million in state funding for debts owed to its police and fire pensions. Unfortunately, with 100% of the City’s state revenues being redirected to the police and fire pensions, we are faced...

Rahm Emanuel raised taxes to get city worker pension funds on a ‘path to solvency.’ The shortfall still ballooned by $7 billion. ... A record-high property tax increase. A new tax on water and sewer service. A higher 911 emergency fee on telephone lines... Emanuel’s series of tax hikes was painful, but he promised the extra money was part of a plan to get the woefully underfunded city worker pension funds on a “path to solvency.”.. in the four years since .. The pension funds are actually worse off. When Emanuel pushed through the tax hikes, the city worker retirement...

The presidents of the two largest teachers unions in the country, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), are supporting the impeachment inquiry on President Trump, announced Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday.

The University of California is dumping fossil fuel investments from its nearly $84 billion pension and endowment funds, calling them a financial risk. An opinion article in Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times says UC will make its endowment fund “fossil free” by month’s end and its pension fund will soon follow. The pension fund covers 320,000 people. …

A Long Island Rail Road worker who raked in more than $280,000 in pay last year — more than half from overtime — was busted hanging out at home while on the clock, according to a report obtained by The Post. But he was allowed to retire before he could be punished — and collect his full pension on the public dime. Raymond Murphy, a foreman with the LIRR’s Buildings and Bridges department who’d been at the agency since 1996, was caught by the MTA’s Inspector General at or near his home on 10 occasions when he was on duty...

U.S. public pension liability is equivalent to $18,300 for every resident. Public pensions can’t afford not to invest in companies that generate impressive growth and profits. If you are a public employee or a retiree, you should be very concerned because new data shows public pension funds that let leftist policies drive their investment decisions, a.k.a. socially responsible investing, have been consistently underperforming their private peers and the general stock markets.Socially responsible investing (SRI), meaning only investing in companies with “ethical” practices, is not an entirely new concept. Public pension funds have been leading in this since the 1970s. For...

While Illinoisans will be paying higher taxes, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s going to give state lawmakers at least a $1,600 pay increase because they’re hard workers. Pritzker said he’ll sign the budget bills being sent his way, despite the ire from taxpayers that lawmakers gave themselves a raise while doubling the state’s gas tax. Pritzker was asked multiple times in Chicago Tuesday if he’d line-item veto more than $280,000 in lawmaker pay increases when he gets the budget that was passed in overtime session. “Look, this was a highly negotiated budget,” Pritzker said. “We had the Republicans and Democrats...

Without pension reform, progressive income tax amendment guarantees tax hikes on Illinois’ middle class. ( Full title). The current progressive income tax proposal would fail to pay down the state's unfunded liability while damaging Illinois' economy. On May 20, Democrats in the Illinois House Revenue & Finance Committee approved Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s prized progressive tax constitutional amendment. While the Senate had previously passed a new income tax structure – already different from the governor’s original proposal – the House Committee also passed the amendment without putting in income tax rates. ... progressive tax proponents need to face that without pension...