[quote=AN][quote=briansd1]BG, for the life of me, I can’t see how you could argue that “stupidvisors” should be paid handsome pensions at retirement.

Are municipal employees highly qualified and deserving of good pay, or are they just the types who go through the motions?[/quote]
If the supervisor are stupid enough to deserve the nickname stupidvisor, I can’t imagine how stupid their average underlings are.[/quote]

I don’t know about now, but my experience has been that the “underlings” were frequently much smarter than their “supervisor,” who, by hook or crook, managed to get promoted to that title.

I never stated here that I thought all public employees “deserved” their pensions. There undoubtedly were/are? some “workers” who never should have been hired in the first place, much less “promoted.”

All I’ve stated is that the public pension boards are following the law to the “T” in the management of public pension funds. Those on both sides of the aisle responsible for periodically “executing” the collective bargaining procedure are ALSO following the law. It is a HUGE body of state and Federal law, most of which has been on the books for many decades. Good luck dismantling it. The Piggs are barking up the wrong tree, here. They should be writing their legislators and congress members to learn what can be done and what kind of interest there might be among that representative’s brethren to tackle piecemeal repeal step by step (rewrite). Obviously, some of the law doesn’t need reform. Even if the majority in Sacramento or Wash DC are in agreement, completely eliminating collective bargaining and public defined-benefit plans from the books could well take longer than we all have on this earth.

Consider that cities, counties, states and the Federal government all have their own large legal teams on staff. Ask yourselves why they aren’t suing their respective retirement boards for “improper payouts?” Why aren’t they suing the unions for having a closed shop and “taking unfair advantage” of the poor, ignorant (lol) gov’t reps at the bargaining table? Why aren’t they suing to gut pensions they’ve already agreed to but do not now have the budget to fund? If they’re not suing (perhaps because they don’t have a leg to stand on?), then why is the MSM and public now waxing envious, whining and wringing their hands? It’s a waste of time. If you can’t beat ’em, JOIN ’em!

The only thing that’s changed in CA in this regard over all these decades is that property tax revenues to states, counties and municipalities have been greatly reduced for the last few years, causing those entities to actually have to feed their retirement systems on a much smaller budget. In the years during which there was a boatload of revenue coming in, they didn’t feed their retirement systems at all! Instead they “grew” themselves to an unsustainable level and then had to lay off after the RE bust. This “mindset” by our elected PTB of never bothering to save for a “rainy day” (or not save enough) is but one more shining example of incompetency and poor money management at it’s finest. Vote them off the dias! You’ve got a chance this year to get some of these kooks out of power who have outlived their usefulness long ago, due to lack of term limits.

Now there’s something useful the Piggs can lobby their representatives for – TERM LIMITS for EVERY state and local elected position.

And you can lobby your congress member to bring the issue forward of unfunded Federal mandates on CA Counties to their brethren EVERY SINGLE CHANCE they get. Lobby them to meet with Homeland Security officials and Social Security officials on the plethora of ways non-citizens are able to cross the border illegally or overstay their visas and eventually qualify for SSI to sustain them indefinitely here. These immigrants cost the local, state and federal governments a BUNDLE!

See, you CAN be part of the solution! Start writing letters and stop whining.