Public Employees Pensions Will Be To The 2nd Civil War What Slavery Was To The First

[Martin Hash]

Limiting public pensions to Social Security levels plus turning on the presses will cure the financial part. The Pension Guarantee Corp will handle the rest. Like I said, Imaginary money’s got this.

It’s the pure consumption that is the problem.

[Martin Hash]

If reducing public pensions to Social Security levels won’t fly politically, let inflation run wild while indexing Social Security until they do.

[Martin Hash]

Americans don’t have a culture for Asian/Indian style multi-generational family support of the elderly.

We did pre-WWII.....

Americans have collectively decided (whether knowingly or not) that they don't want a middle class....the DNC does't , nor does the GOP....so most Americans are going to have to get used to being poor as fuck. Tough noogies...

Modern Democrats are focused on the bottom 50% and Republicans/Libertarians are focused on the Top 1%. Nobody represents the Middle Class.

[Zero]

This is because the state doesn’t invest the money they pay pensioners with (like a private company paying annuities would), they simply take the money from the current taxpayers and hand it to the pensioners.

I’m not sure how it works in your locale, but ...

https://www.trs.texas.gov/Pages/investments.aspx

https://www.trs.texas.gov/TRS%20Documen ... tement.pdf

I just pulled up some of my individual info, and for 2017 it looks like a total of $4383.48 was deducted from my pay to put into the TRS pot with another $370.04 going specifically into TRS Care, which goes to fund retirees health care.

[DBTrek]

This is because the state doesn’t invest the money they pay pensioners with (like a private company paying annuities would), they simply take the money from the current taxpayers and hand it to the pensioners.

I’m not sure how it works in your locale, but ...

https://www.trs.texas.gov/Pages/investments.aspx

https://www.trs.texas.gov/TRS%20Documen ... tement.pdf

I just pulled up some of my individual info, and for 2017 it looks like a total of $4383.48 was deducted from my pay to put into the TRS pot with another $370.04 going specifically into TRS Care, which goes to fund retirees health care.

Good on Texas. Markets willing, they may avoid having to disappoint their pensioners.

[Speaker to Animals]

When the federal government has to take over the pensions, those pensions should be reduced to no more than what disabled veterans or social security recipients receive.

The idea that some school teacher deserves a pension more than twice what the government pays out to a man who lost most of his limbs in combat is not going to fly with the American people.

Government employees need to grow up on this.

[DBTrek]

Government employees live in an alternate reality. They really do. People who have worked in both private and public sector jobs know what I’m talking about. There are two completely different incentives motivating the workers.

Private sector jobs are based on performance. Even the lowliest fry cook knows that if they can’t sizzle fries right their ass is going out the door. People get paid because their company makes money. The company doesn’t make money - down it goes, no one gets paid.

Government workers know the government isn’t going anywhere. They perform, they don’t perform, whatever. Public unions have successfully forced government agencies to drag dead weight along for 30 years and give it a pension, because there’s really no advantage to punishing non-performance. I mean, engage the union, fight it in court, weather investigations - for what? For a sloth worker that the faceless taxpayers are on the hook for anyway? Nah. Not worth the trouble.

On the other hand, advancement in government jobs is largely political. You *can* get ahead of your appointed place in the bureaucracy, but not by performance. It’s all through soft skills and building alliances.

So it’s not weird for politicians and other public figures to shower their friends and employees with generous pensions and benefits. It’s a smart move in their world - what better way to win friends and influence people than hooking them up with comfortable retirements? And since “the bottom line” isn’t really part of their reality, they tend to fall into this same stupid pension trap again, and again, and again.

[jediuser598]

Government employees live in an alternate reality. They really do. People who have worked in both private and public sector jobs know what I’m talking about. There are two completely different incentives motivating the workers.

Private sector jobs are based on performance. Even the lowliest fry cook knows that if they can’t sizzle fries right their ass is going out the door. People get paid because their company makes money. The company doesn’t make money - down it goes, no one gets paid.

Government workers know the government isn’t going anywhere. They perform, they don’t perform, whatever. Public unions have successfully forced government agencies to drag dead weight along for 30 years and give it a pension, because there’s really no advantage to punishing non-performance. I mean, engage the union, fight it in court, weather investigations - for what? For a sloth worker that the faceless taxpayers are on the hook for anyway? Nah. Not worth the trouble.

On the other hand, advancement in government jobs is largely political. You *can* get ahead of your appointed place in the bureaucracy, but not by performance. It’s all through soft skills and building alliances.

So it’s not weird for politicians and other public figures to shower their friends and employees with generous pensions and benefits. It’s a smart move in their world - what better way to win friends and influence people than hooking them up with comfortable retirements? And since “the bottom line” isn’t really part of their reality, they tend to fall into this same stupid pension trap again, and again, and again.

For sure. That part was a shock. "You're going to need friends in order to keep working here." and "If my employees don't like you, why would I like you?" Government employees are fucking crazy.

[Zero]

Government employees live in an alternate reality. They really do. People who have worked in both private and public sector jobs know what I’m talking about. There are two completely different incentives motivating the workers.

Private sector jobs are based on performance. Even the lowliest fry cook knows that if they can’t sizzle fries right their ass is going out the door. People get paid because their company makes money. The company doesn’t make money - down it goes, no one gets paid.

Government workers know the government isn’t going anywhere. They perform, they don’t perform, whatever. Public unions have successfully forced government agencies to drag dead weight along for 30 years and give it a pension, because there’s really no advantage to punishing non-performance. I mean, engage the union, fight it in court, weather investigations - for what? For a sloth worker that the faceless taxpayers are on the hook for anyway? Nah. Not worth the trouble.

On the other hand, advancement in government jobs is largely political. You *can* get ahead of your appointed place in the bureaucracy, but not by performance. It’s all through soft skills and building alliances.

So it’s not weird for politicians and other public figures to shower their friends and employees with generous pensions and benefits. It’s a smart move in their world - what better way to win friends and influence people than hooking them up with comfortable retirements? And since “the bottom line” isn’t really part of their reality, they tend to fall into this same stupid pension trap again, and again, and again.

For sure. That part was a shock. "You're going to need friends in order to keep working here." and "If my employees don't like you, why would I like you?" Government employees are fucking crazy.

No doubt. This part of it pisses me off, especially as I move through the process into admin. I have to network (fine), I have to show intiative (of course), and I have to have the data to show I know what I’m doing (duh), but I also have to watch out for the status quo folks on campus who don’t want to change much of anything they do, and who have the ear of the admin due to longevity. It’s fucked. I can’t speak truth to power for fear of fucking up future job recommendations, even though there are clear areas of improvement.

I know for a fact that I’ve been actively blocked from a seat on the FAC because over the last three years I’ve been labeled as someone who ‘wants to change the world’ ie- rethink how/why we do stuff

[kybkh]

This is because the state doesn’t invest the money they pay pensioners with (like a private company paying annuities would), they simply take the money from the current taxpayers and hand it to the pensioners.

I’m not sure how it works in your locale, but ...

https://www.trs.texas.gov/Pages/investments.aspx

https://www.trs.texas.gov/TRS%20Documen ... tement.pdf

I just pulled up some of my individual info, and for 2017 it looks like a total of $4383.48 was deducted from my pay to put into the TRS pot with another $370.04 going specifically into TRS Care, which goes to fund retirees health care.

Good on Texas. Markets willing, they may avoid having to disappoint their pensioners.

Texas will be fine as they are not experiencing the type of demographic shift 90% of the country is.

Used to be 1 retiree to 4 active contributors for reitrees, now it is 1:1.6 here for KY teachers