[quote=AN]Totally agree with SDR and NSR. I have no problem with anyone retiring early. I myself are planning on retiring before I’m 60 too. So, no, no one should be forced to work past any age. My biggest bone, like SDR and NSR stated is the tax payer backstopping pension. I’d say, convert pension to 401k, and if people start leaving because the pay is too low, then increase the pay to the point where people would stay.[/quote]
Taxpayers back an awful lot of things like Social Security, Medicare, FDIC, PBGC, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, FHA, some student loans, USDA loans, and all the associated “investors” of govt-backed debt, etc. Taxpayers pay for wars that disproportionately benefit certain corporations/industries, pay for infrastructure that often serves only a tiny portion of the population, pay for “welfare” that only a small portion of the population directly benefit from, etc. The taxpayers have also backed many corporations/entities that would have otherwise gone bankrupt, and have directly and indirectly paid for the egregious compensation packages “earned” by the top execs of those companies who led them down the sinkhole.
We taxpayers have an awful lot to complain about, and the compensation of hard-working cops, firefighters, teachers, etc. should be at the bottom of the list. Those are some of the very few people who actually *work for and earn* what they get from the government.
