You really need to learn a little more about the numbers before you start spouting them off. “A $182 billion dollar bailout” does not mean that Uncle Sam transferred that money to some executive’s private account. In most cases, the “bailout” represents loan guarantees for the investors (which likely includes CalPERS/CalSTRS, BTW) that must be paid back (And in many cases they already have – with a PROFIT to the taxpayers.)
So your examples are completely bogus.
Pension payments, however, are DIRECT payments from the government, TO INDIVIDUALS. They will never be paid back. And there are many hundreds of billions of dollars that need to come from somewhere.
If you want to claim we can collect that much money simply by taking it from individual Wall Street folks (and only the bad ones, of course) then give us some names (i.e. provide some FACTS, not links to tangential articles.)
Let’s see a short list of actual names with a simple sum of the amounts we seize from them. If you can’t provide that, then please give up, because up to now your arguments are hopelessly weak and repetitive.
Or perhaps your plan all along is to get the money from the bogey man?[/quote]
Perhaps YOU ought to do some research, Mr. Financial Genius. Pension benefits are absolutely NOT direct payments from the government/taxpayers to individuals. The only portion paid for by taxpayers are the employers’ share of the contribution amounts.
Once again, taxpayers DO NOT make benefit payments to retirees. Get your facts straight before you make yourself look like an even bigger idiot.