Michael Lewis Article on Public Pensions

Discussion in 'Economics' started by denner, Oct 6, 2011.

  1. Don't hate the player hate the game. If being a public employee is a road to riches, get a job as a teacher,firefighter,cop and tell your kids to go work as a teacher and forget working private industry.
     
    #11     Oct 6, 2011
  2. MKTrader

    MKTrader

    http://economics.about.com/od/economicsglossary/g/tragedy.htm

    The problem is we can't all play the game. And it can't go on much longer. Ask Greece.
     
    #12     Oct 6, 2011
  3. KingofShits did his usual troll drive-by.

    Like you said, it can't go on much longer and the whole issue is slowly entering the public, soon to be political stage for debate. Oddly, it's another form of "have's" and "have nots" in an economy with so many municipalities facing impending bankruptcy like Vallejo.

    Anybody else catch that gem about 500 million dollars in public pension obligations (for Vallejo) due prior to the 2008 bankruptcy?
     
    #13     Oct 6, 2011
  4. Tell that to the parents of the kid who's abducted and where the local PD doesn't have adequate resources (due to layoffs as the result of bloated pensions) to lock down a perimeter or perform an adequate search.

    "Private industry" should be the arbiter of public pay. There is no elasticity of demand in the public system. A Laguna Beach lifeguard should not be making $225k when the private sector pays $40k for equally qualified individuals. These are not bargained positions.

    Respectfully, you're a fcuking retard.
     
    #14     Oct 6, 2011
  5. Eight

    Eight

    everybody is using this poster for a punching bag but really, if you see what is happening, you see that it has happened many times before, you know that it will happen again, then why not just be on the right side of the trade? and the next trade, and the one after that.. it all cycles the same every frigging time...

    What good is all the handwringing?
     
    #15     Oct 6, 2011

  6. Weird cause the Lifeguard jobs posted by the country pay no where near 225K.

    From what I see teachers start out at 32K a year, the first 10 years they do not get more than a 1% annual raise then after the first 10 years they start getting a 3-4% cola.

    and if they get a higher degree they could get some pay jumps of 4K per degree.


    So some teacher that has been in the system 35 years is making 70K a year, do you think I am gonna get upset about it?

    Shit a kid with an HS degree can start out making 35


    can you post a photocopy of the payscale sheet for Laguna lifeguards?

    I would like to see facts and figures.


    and like I say, if they pay 225K to be a lifeguard, why dont you apply? sounds like easy money.
     
    #16     Oct 6, 2011
  7. Facts and figures example #1

    http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/fbs/finance/salary/schedules/2011-12schedules.pdf

    So you say, someone who had to go to college for 4 years should not be making 57K a year after 35 years on the job?


    Sounds like a shitty salary in my opinion if someone has to work 35 years with other peoples halfwits to make 57K a year, after having to attend 4 years of college and who knows how many other bullshit certification training courses etc..


    35 years from now 57K wont buy squat.
     
    #17     Oct 6, 2011
  8. the military is just as bad. i have an uncle who retired from the navy at age 40 with a full pension.
     
    #18     Oct 6, 2011
  9. zdreg

    zdreg

    every cent that teachers make could be justified if they produced superior students. as glorified baby sitters,whatever the reason, they are vastly over paid.

    don't forget the various pension benefits they receive including exemption from state and local taxes.
    in nyc teachers are retiring on 90k pension.

    "35 years from now 57K wont buy squat.
    it is a ridiculous statement since salaries go up every year.
     
    #19     Oct 6, 2011
  10. I don't understand why people get so mad at the firemen, teachers, and unions. What happened to free market principles and "Greed is good"? These people are trying to get the best deal they can and this is what they were given.

    Granted, there are some cases of blatant corruption or where a guy gets a job for 1 day and gets some big pension out of it, but why the anger at the fireman? There were drawbacks to his situation, it was difficult to go and get a new job in the middle of his career or relocate, he had a poor negotiating position on raises.... But most of all, someone offered him something and he agreed to it. Now it's time for him to collect and we're all crying.

    I'd like to propose that there might be another villain here. All these years money was being taken from that fireman's paycheck, taken by someone who was paying himself very handsomely to "manage" that money knowing full well the future obligations that he had agreed to. He went on golf trips, fancy conferences in Aspen, and was bribed left and right while collecting a very nice salary that also set up his own retirement which he is now probably enjoying much more comfortably than any teacher or fireman.

    But he failed in his promised duty to return enough money to fulfill the promise to the fireman. Now, I'm sympathetic to his complaints that such-and-such fund didn't return what he thought it would...but that was the whole point of his job. I personally don't think we should be making the defined benefit guarantees that we are, but I don't see how we can be angry at the people who are just asking us to fulfill our promise.
     
    #20     Oct 6, 2011