Comments (22) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   TJDestry said, 2 months ago

   Sigh. If only there were some way to put more soda into the glass. But it would inconvenience the plutocrats, and we can’t have that. Better to break our promises to the working class.
2. 

   Rickapolis said, 2 months ago

   Why can’t these lazy ingrates stop expected to be given what they were promised? We want the rich to pay less taxes rather than pay your earned pensions , so you old people just SHUT UP!
3. 

   Ms. Ima said, 2 months ago

   Unions.
4. 

   TheTrustedMechanic said, 2 months ago

   There are plenty of abuses in union contracts, but the simple thing is the first two comments are correct, politicians refused to levy and collect the appropriate amount of taxes to compensate those who performed the work. There will never be a cheaper labor force than the government. Stay with me, all of the expense to provide the work the government provides goes directly to the worker, there is no profit motive so there is no padding the costs to milk that 20% off the top. Sure the private sector can clean your school cheaper in dollars than the school employee can. But can they really? I’ve posted about this before, the local school privatized its janitorial staff and hired a company part owned by one of the commissioners. No conflict of interest there, yeah right. Well they bid 10-15% lower than the calculated cost of the school staff. The dirty truth is they forced the school staff to apply for the jobs so they could be considered “new hires.” The starting wage was devoid of any benefits, all part time and at 20% less than they were earning before. So the private company was charging 15% less than the school staff cost, but they were paying 20% less in real wages plus pocketed the cost of the benefits the school employees had. Oh, and because all the “new hires” were part-time they had to hire new staff, no criminal background checks and yes a convicted pedophile was hired. So they actually cost the community a great deal more than the 15% they “saved.” I know it’s difficult math for the republicans to understand, that’s why they refuse to acknowledge this fact and continue to push privatization, or in actuality profitization where their friends win, and the taxpayers lose.
   .
   The real solution is to properly fund pension obligations by telling the taxpayers no to pet projects, watching the actual costs of goods and services purchased from private suppliers (there never any fraud or abuse there don’t ya know) and levy a proper tax to cover the services the people require. There is absolutely no reason why public employees should be expected to live and be paid below the poverty line. And a study done a few years ago showed that yes “governmental employees” were paid slightly higher than the private sector in general. But it also showed that those “governmental employees” had substantially higher education levels than the private sector in general. When accounting for education the “governmental employees” were actually significantly underpaid compared to their private sector counterparts. So how’s that union really working out? Just another republican bogeyman.
5. 

   Omnius said, 2 months ago

   Blame the republicans for deregulating our corrupt banking industry and bushwhacking our economy for the failures of public pension plans that have not been earning what they should have been earning.
6. 

   davefrompaterson said, 2 months ago

   when i signed on with the u.s. govt as an engineer, the pay was about 20% below private engineering jobs. the reason they gave us a pension promise and some good paid leave is because nobody would take the jobs in those days. some govt jobs pay more than private sector, but engineer job with appropriate experience pays less than a private sector similar job. that goes for new hires and experienced. and if i was not bright enough to make good investments, i would not have been able to retire on this crap pension.
7. 

   ronald rini said, 2 months ago

   I’m sorry but they need to fund the pensions like companies have to If you do not put money aside to do this then cut cost till you have a enough. That does not mean raise taxes remember the more you give them the more they will spend. Oh and forget taxing the rich just go out and Buy stuff made in the U.S.A. that would help the most
8. 

   TheTrustedMechanic said, 2 months ago

   @HOWGOZIT

   Can’t attack the message so accuse the messenger of plagiarism. That is called slander there ZIT. I do not watch/listen to either of your bogeymen there. Please do us all a favor and go pop yourself.
9. 

   DavidGBA said, 2 months ago

   Failure to pay in when obligtions were incurred, leaves a big bill to pay later, but that is just bad money management!

   This benefit was part of the deal they were hired under, worked under. My 89 year old mother in law gets a state pension. She does not look like a fat cat to me!
10. 

    Adrian Snare said, 2 months ago

    @Ms. Ima

    Typical of a conservative (probably a “bot”).. No man can be that stupid.
    Greed is the problem, the rich (Congress) write the rules – for their benefit …
    Check our their pensions.
    My pension ?
    An OK one in my book ($350 for our lives).
    Yes, its a union pension…without the union, it would be a $100 gold watch and that is it…which the conservatives like…..more money for them , which they do NOT deserve.
    What I have been trying to say all this time is that the wealthy in our nation must accept their responsibility….they must lead…they must accept the same cuts that the masses do…
    If not, then there will be a civil war….or a revoltution..
11. 

    Adrian Snare said, 2 months ago

    @TheTrustedMechanic

    A good read, not sure that I agree, completely..But this is much closer to the truth..
    Its true that money corrupts…
    We need a balance between liberalism and conservativeism..
    Right now, IMO, we are far too conservative.
12. 

    I Play One On TV said, 2 months ago

    When municipalities renege on signed contracts, who will be willing to trust them in the future? “A liar is not to be believed even when he tells the truth.” This is the consequence for changing the rules in the middle of the game. What happens when private companies decide they don’t want to trust the municipalities that hire them?
13. 

    mickey1339 said, 2 months ago

    @Omnius

    “Blame the Republicans.”

    I know you’re not interested in real facts, but Clinton was behind repealing the Glass – Segal act as well as clearing the way for China to enter the WTO, which greatly expanded their market access. Many feel the repeal of Glass – Steagall was a precipitous event that lead to the banking crises in 2007.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_Act
14. 

    Night-Gaunt49 said, 2 months ago

    @Rickapolis

    They want the old to shut up an DIE. No need for gulags and death camps, this works better and most importantly cheaper.
15. 

    Night-Gaunt49 said, 2 months ago

    @HOWGOZIT

    Meaning you have NOTHING to respond to. Cleaned your clock didn’t he?
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