First point – Pension system hasn’t been fixed because of pick-ups.
Second point – Pickups represent a very small, almost tiny percentage of CA public employees.
New point. Exceptions to the norm, that are counter to the trajectory of lower costs and benefits should be fixed. But they don’t alter the trajectory.
I doubt the people who are defending the pension system or telling us it’s been “reformed” or fixed were even aware of this.
It’s the attitude that bothers me the most. They get their pensions, no matter how much they cost and if we even question it or point out the self dealings we’re “jealous”.
Someone else said they hear court employess say things like “the public doesnt want to pay for services anymore…”. Uh, no – we demand service. We demand your best. Sure, at some point there will be a degredation if funding is truly lacking, but in the meantime every stone needs to be turned in terms of efficiency, process improvements and wage and benefit reductions. Not “well we used to do that but Joe retired and I’m not going to do more”.
