OT: the $100K CA pension club & pensiontsunami

[equalizer]

Whether you vote yes or no on all the props 1A-1E, these pensions will still be paid. Amazingly, Uncle Sam sharply curbed pension for federal employees in the early 80’s!

4,818 retired California government workers
receive pensions in excess of $100,000
from CalPERS.

http://www.californiapensionreform.com/calpers/

“That approaching wave of pension debt is bigger than it looks. The purpose of this site is to provide an overview of the multiple pension crises that are about to drown America’s taxpayers.”
http://www.pensiontsunami.com/index.php

“According to the data compiled to date, the highest paid public employee retiree in the state is Bruce Malkenhorst, the former city administrator, clerk, finance director and treasurer of the city of Vernon. Vernon is a tiny industrial enclave near Los Angeles. He earns $499,674.84 a year or $41,639 a month in pensions…

That firefighters and police officers dominate the list of $100,000 retirees should come as no surprise. At the state level and almost all local jurisdictions, public safety personnel have the richest retirement formulas. If they work for 30 years, police and firefighters can retire in their early 50s with 90 percent of their last year’s salary, which is usually their highest.

Managers also dominate the $100,000 club list. These are the people who are supposed to represent the public when employee benefits are negotiated. But when government managers sit down with union leaders to dicker over compensation, they are negotiating for themselves as well. If rank-and-file workers get a wage or benefit boost, non-union managers get a commensurate hike and a matching pension benefit.

The pension disclosures are likely to stir anger and they should. With the economy in decline, more and more public money is being diverted from vital services and public employees are being laid off to keep pension funds solvent…

Ultimately our elected representatives governors, legislators, county supervisors, city councils, and local fire and water district board members are to blame. They approved these lucrative pension benefits.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12309255

[davelj]

A friend of mine was a senior city planner here in SD. Great guy. Put in his 30 years for the city. Now has an $82K annual pension (with COLA adjustments!) for the rest of his life – he’s in his early-60s now. So now he has a second job – kind of a low-stress fun job – making about $60K. The house is paid off and life is good.

And, again, great guy. But I take every opportunity to tell him that he’s part of the problem, although it’s not his fault. And he acknowledges it and replies, “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just following them.” Which is true.

Politics and pensions. A very bad combination for the taxpayers.

[davelj]

A friend of mine was a senior city planner here in SD. Great guy. Put in his 30 years for the city. Now has an $82K annual pension (with COLA adjustments!) for the rest of his life – he’s in his early-60s now. So now he has a second job – kind of a low-stress fun job – making about $60K. The house is paid off and life is good.

And, again, great guy. But I take every opportunity to tell him that he’s part of the problem, although it’s not his fault. And he acknowledges it and replies, “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just following them.” Which is true.

Politics and pensions. A very bad combination for the taxpayers.

[davelj]

A friend of mine was a senior city planner here in SD. Great guy. Put in his 30 years for the city. Now has an $82K annual pension (with COLA adjustments!) for the rest of his life – he’s in his early-60s now. So now he has a second job – kind of a low-stress fun job – making about $60K. The house is paid off and life is good.

And, again, great guy. But I take every opportunity to tell him that he’s part of the problem, although it’s not his fault. And he acknowledges it and replies, “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just following them.” Which is true.

Politics and pensions. A very bad combination for the taxpayers.

[davelj]

A friend of mine was a senior city planner here in SD. Great guy. Put in his 30 years for the city. Now has an $82K annual pension (with COLA adjustments!) for the rest of his life – he’s in his early-60s now. So now he has a second job – kind of a low-stress fun job – making about $60K. The house is paid off and life is good.

And, again, great guy. But I take every opportunity to tell him that he’s part of the problem, although it’s not his fault. And he acknowledges it and replies, “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just following them.” Which is true.

Politics and pensions. A very bad combination for the taxpayers.

[davelj]

A friend of mine was a senior city planner here in SD. Great guy. Put in his 30 years for the city. Now has an $82K annual pension (with COLA adjustments!) for the rest of his life – he’s in his early-60s now. So now he has a second job – kind of a low-stress fun job – making about $60K. The house is paid off and life is good.

And, again, great guy. But I take every opportunity to tell him that he’s part of the problem, although it’s not his fault. And he acknowledges it and replies, “Hey, I didn’t make the rules. I’m just following them.” Which is true.

Politics and pensions. A very bad combination for the taxpayers.

[Author]

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