California’s $500-billion pension time bomb
The staggering amount of unfunded debt stands to crowd out funding for many popular programs. Reform will take something sadly lacking in the Legislature: political courage.
For those clamoring about schools:
legislators fight harder to overturn employee furloughs than to reform pensions and elect to pay more in compensation to just 65,000 employees in one single department — corrections — than they spend on a higher education system serving 10 times as many people.
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Brian,
I was a public school teacher, and I’ve known a few people who were prison guards. Lots of people want to become teachers, but very few want to be prison guards.
Let me tell you, there is not enough money in the world that would persuade me to become a prison guard. Again, if you think it’s such an overpaid, easy job, why aren’t you doing it? Do it first, then tell us about reducing compensation.
I do agree with you regarding the fact that we imprison too many people who don’t belong in jail, and think we really need to consider legalizing pot (which I do not smoke, BTW); but prison guards (and cops, in general) have one of the toughest jobs out there.
