Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
On the public side, the taxpayers are now being forced out of their homes to pay for the lucrative pension plans of the Town Employees that generally treat citizens like dirt.
I've seen you complain about government employees MANY MANY times on City-Data, but it's getting old. Please don't paint ALL of us with such a broad brush.
I work for my local county government. My county has a AAA rating on its bonds from Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch ratings. I'm sure this didn't happen by accident.
Hiring and wage freezes (for everyone) were instituted last year, as well as lay-offs. We do NOT treat citizens like dirt...we do the job we're supposed to do. My department deals with the public on a regular basis, and we often get compliments from those who use our services.
My co-workers and I are not "fat cats". We're just regular people, trying to do our jobs and pay our bills, just like everybody else. So before you lump all of us government employees together, please remember there are two sides to every coin.
Social Security could be easily fixed by eliminating the cap, (Yes, tax the rich)
Limit who recieves it, If your collecting 2ooK a year or more do you really need 1500 a month from SS??
and oh my God........Cut Military Spending.......is 13 Carrier Battle Groups really enough????
Really? Penalize someone from the system because they were financially responsible and saved other retirement? The people collecting 200k a year are the backbone who built up the SS (business owners with employees).
"As the first of the 80 million Baby Boomers have begun to retire, it has become increasingly apparent that the United States is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude. State and local government pension plans are woefully underfunded, dozens of large corporate pension plans either have collapsed or are on the verge of collapsing, Social Security is a complete and total financial disaster and about half of all Americans essentially have nothing saved up for retirement. So yes, to say that we are facing a retirement crisis would be a tremendous understatement."
Looking at the listed reasons, I see two reports that indicated problems out in my area, but they didn't acknowledge the rather thorough and detailed rebuttals to those reports. In addition, they list sentiment as a reason for concern, that folks are worried about Social Security being there when they retire.
They also list folks not saving enough. How is that a worry about pensions?
Blogs like this are contributing to the worry, but that is no analytical sign of coming problems.
So is everyone saying that pension funds are in good shape, when they have to invest their money somewhere and for years almost all investments have lost money? On the private side, businesses know that all they have to do is a legal maneuver called a "change of control" to effectively throw out any and all pension promises. On the public side, the taxpayers are now being forced out of their homes to pay for the lucrative pension plans of the Town Employees that generally treat citizens like dirt. As to State and Federal government, the average American faces a more and more grim future while these fatcats continue to load on the taxes and overregulation and pure abuse of power?
Our pensions were stolen years ago, and Social Security is a joke for us, just like anyone 55 or under (though we continue to pay over 15% of every paycheck to it, thanks to the "employer match" slight of hand that only liberals don't understand).
But anyone who isn't preparing for the worst, hasn't been keeping up with the state of the economy since wages stagnated in the 1970s. That was 40 years ago, when the war to eliminate the Middle Class began.
Have you been following the double digit returns state pension funds have been reporting for the fiscal year ending June 30? The individual members of those funds as are since the annual reports are being sent personally to them. Fear not what you read in a blog when the actual numbers are in your mailbox.
Really? Penalize someone from the system because they were financially responsible and saved other retirement? The people collecting 200k a year are the backbone who built up the SS (business owners with employees).
I don't think he is talking about means testing to restrict payout but rather increasing the payroll tax to increase contributions.
So is everyone saying that pension funds are in good shape, when they have to invest their money somewhere and for years almost all investments have lost money? On the private side, businesses know that all they have to do is a legal maneuver called a "change of control" to effectively throw out any and all pension promises. On the public side, the taxpayers are now being forced out of their homes to pay for the lucrative pension plans of the Town Employees that generally treat citizens like dirt. As to State and Federal government, the average American faces a more and more grim future while these fatcats continue to load on the taxes and overregulation and pure abuse of power?
Our pensions were stolen years ago, and Social Security is a joke for us, just like anyone 55 or under (though we continue to pay over 15% of every paycheck to it, thanks to the "employer match" slight of hand that only liberals don't understand).
But anyone who isn't preparing for the worst, hasn't been keeping up with the state of the economy since wages stagnated in the 1970s. That was 40 years ago, when the war to eliminate the Middle Class began.
We have long since understood your personal situation and your dads situation in New Hampshire and have factored that in understanding your posts. Your cloud is not our rain.
Social Security could be easily fixed by eliminating the cap, (Yes, tax the rich)
Limit who recieves it, If your collecting 2ooK a year or more do you really need 1500 a month from SS??
and oh my God........Cut Military Spending.......is 13 Carrier Battle Groups really enough????
But its a trust fund is not going to be fixed by general funds of the taxpayers.Membersd of the trust need to receive what is owed same as others.
Social Security could be easily fixed by eliminating the cap, (Yes, tax the rich)
Limit who recieves it, If your collecting 2ooK a year or more do you really need 1500 a month from SS??
and oh my God........Cut Military Spending.......is 13 Carrier Battle Groups really enough????
Regardless of what you are making in retirement you are entitled to SS as it was a contributory program and not a socialistic wealth redistribution program. In fact if you are making 200K in retirement you probably were maxed out in contributing to SS and deserve your monthly amount more than anyone else. Now if you were earning 200K while working your monthly benefit is a good chunk over $1,500 that is well earned and could buy you quite a bit in the way of vacation home or luxury car.
As Confuncious ( another Chinese philosopher) once said: Let us reward those who contributed the most for without them those who did little would have nothing.
Now why should a life time house wife who contributed nothing get rewarded when a Mom who raised a family and was a business executive and has wealth gets nothing from SS? Something is wrong with that picture!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
