Free Republic

Retirement plans nationally and in Florida were already in trouble before the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though Florida has one of the healthier retirement systems in the country, this system is nearly $30 billion in debit and has approximately 85 percent of the funding it needs to pay for retirement benefits. This and a controversial bill to limit retirement options that did not make it through, gave Florida workers the jitters and an omen of what may be coming down the pike. In the report, "Retirement Insecurity 2021," conducted by Greenwald Research of 1200 working adults, two-thirds of Americans (67%) say...

El Monte Police Chief Thomas Armstrong oversaw a modestly sized department, with 120 officers But when Armstrong stepped down last year, he was paid nearly $430,000 The payday was possible thanks to a clause in Armstrong's contract that allowed him to accrue unlimited sick and vacation hours and sell them back to the city at the end of his career. By the time he retired at age 56, Armstrong cashed out for roughly $200,000. And he's not alone. Similar payouts have been made in city governments across the state. Those employees include Roy Campos, Downey's former police chief, who was...

Public employees are retiring at a quickening pace around the U.S., providing a mixed blessing for state and local governments seeking to save money. The retirements mean employers can shelve some planned layoffs. And some of the departing workers, generally more senior and higher paid, are being replaced by lower-paid employees with less-generous retirement benefits, government officials say. But the loss of veterans threatens to erode the quality of public services that make communities attractive, they say. The exodus of public employees is an unintended consequence of states' financial struggles. Some workers have been required to take unpaid furlough days,...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates' vow to shut a major military command and eliminate thousands of contractor jobs to plug a "gusher of defense spending" will do little to reduce the Pentagon budget but will prove a breeze compared with cutting military health care costs. Military analysts, including several who met privately with Gates this week, said that the uproar from Virginia officials over the closing of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk and the firing of defense contractors in the Washington suburbs will pale next to the national umbrage expected when it's time to tackle personnel costs. "There...

You'd have to be nuts to think that we, that is--us, that is--the United States of America, can continue along this path: public employee retirees that collect north of $100,000 per year in pension benefits. In perpetuity. Indulge me for just a moment: In the small little county in which I live we have an exclusive club. It is a rather small club at the moment--535 members. Though it is growing rapidly, adding over 100 new members in the last year alone. That's almost 25% growth. In a sluggish, no growth economy. This particular club doesn't actually DO anything. Rather,...

You'd have to be nuts to think that we, that is--us, that is--the United States of America, can continue along this path: public employee retirees that collect north of $100,000 per year in pension benefits. In perpetuity. Indulge me for just a moment: In the small little county in which I live we have an exclusive club. It is a rather small club at the moment--535 members. Though it is growing rapidly, adding over 100 new members in the last year alone. That's almost 25% growth. In a sluggish, no growth economy. This particular club doesn't actually DO anything. Rather,...

Feb. 4, 2004, 10:41PM Workers expecting the worst on retirement benefits Associated Press NEW YORK -- Workers expect employers to cut more of their retirement benefits, and three-quarters of companies have either done so or plan to, a new survey says. More than 40 percent of the employers queried have reduced medical benefits for workers who will retire in the future and an additional 35 percent said they are likely to do so, according to the survey released Wednesday by personnel consulting firm Towers Perrin. More than two-thirds of the employers said they have shifted more medical costs to their current...

Some people consider the choice of a military career strange. They find it hard to understand why someone who seems to be so normal in so many ways would choose to give himself or herself to a career that infringes on their family life, impedes their choice of where to live, what clothes to wear, and one that may send you into life threatening situations any number of times during that chosen career. Yes, it is indeed a choice that none but the best or those with a sense of duty to their God, their Country and their fellow man...