America’s Retirement Crisis Grows as Cities Raid Pension and Health Plans
http://www.alternet.org/node/934912
Across America, states, counties and cities are taking steps that will make retirement for ex-public employees much harsher. Courts, politicans and corporations are all working together to chip away at deferred wages: reducing pensions or eliminating promised healthcare, or both. Said simply, they’re looting retirements and pushing people toward poverty.
This is the course unfolding in federal bankruptcy court for the city of Detroit. It is what the Illinois Legislature passed last week in a giant pension reform bill that excluded the city of Chicago, whose red ink reckoning comes next year. It’s what’s before California cities that have filed for backruptcy, or are seeking voter approval to cut into retirement benefits, such as Stockton, San Bernadino, Riverside and even wealthy San Jose.
In these and other government jurisdictions, the foremost question is not why legions of elected officals have failed to provide for the employees who did their jobs and made the cities function. Instead, the question seems to be how much they can plunder earned and pledged benefits, so they can avoid raising taxes or cutting services.
“News leaking out this week from the Motor City tells how the enormous gap between pensions workers earned and the money set aside to pay for them will be closed,” wrote David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. “By stealing from workers.”
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then you could be correct - because those 4 individuals control more wealth than 40% of the rest of the country.
More actual income inequality statistics to counter the republican talking points:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
Last edited Wed Dec 11, 2013, 05:42 PM - Edit history (3)
pushing school privatization measures everywhere he has worked. He was not chosen by the voters -- he was appointed by Mayor Daley.
On edit, I add that Vallas' position was specially created by Daley after he'd connived to get "mayoral control" of CPS, so Vallas was essentially the puppet hand under Daley's direction.
The position of CEO of the CPS was created by Mayor Richard M. Daley after he successfully convinced the Illinois State Legislature to place CPS under mayoral control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Vallas
The change in funding was not voted on -- not by the public or by the union members/employees affected -- it was a deal cut by officials.
Second, all the money diverted did NOT go back into the schools; some went into the general fund.
Third, the average pension is not the median pension: 42% of pensioners make less than $42K & 27% make less than $30K, according to your own link. And CPS pensions cover administrators, not just teachers. Also, recipients of CPS pensions DON'T GET SOCIAL SECURITY. So your "generous" $20K would be the sum total of pensioners' retirement benefits. Despite having contributed nearly 10% of their earnings into a "retirement fund" over the course of their careers.
What happened? In 1995, CPS was facing a projected 1999 deficit of $1.4 billion, plus the familiar problems of low scores and dropout rates. So Paul Vallas proposed a fix:
Vallas, who will submit his proposed $2.9 billion budget to the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees Monday, said he trimmed $161.8 million by reducing 1,700 central office staffers and trades workers; eliminating waste from special education and other departments; and gutting an elaborate program designed to network the district’s computers.
At the same time, he came up with $206.8 million in revenue by contributing less to the teachers pension fund; keeping some of the discretionary funds schools get for low-income students; putting 20 surplus properties up for sale; and shifting to the general fund monies that financed after-school programs at school fieldhouses.
Part of the deal was that property taxes that had been directed to pensions would instead go directly into school operations. Another part of the deal was that the General Assembly would make it a “goal and intention” each year to give the city teachers pension fund 20 percent to 30 percent of the amount allocated for the suburban/downstate teachers pension fund.
As Eric Zorn points out, the general assembly met its “goal and intention” exactly one year, 1995, when it contributed 23 percent. (They did manage to keep it in double digits up until 2000.) That was supposed to balance out the CPS’s pension holiday, which lasted a decade, but it fell precipitously. That’s the blue line above.
CPS got a break on paying into the pension fund, and the state slacked off on it. But everything stayed cool—i.e. the funding ratio stayed above 90 percent—because of investment returns. Then the stock market cooled off and the ratio started falling....
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/June-2013/Chicago-Public-Schools-Pension-Bomb/
Just. Wow. 
talking points. I think we'd better talk about raising taxes in this country - particularly on our wealthiest individuals and corporations. When one family, the Waltons, controls more wealth than 40% of the rest of the population it is easy to see that individual workers' pensions are not the problem.
benefits for the time they have put in at a company. Enron. But there is no bail out for the people. When its not your money, its easy to say oh well. but when I and others like me were sounding the bell on this particular practice I could hear all kinds of tricked out comments. There are those who are still naïve to think that it won't be them. Retired municipal employees from Detroit are getting a second hand lesson on republican economics. Because Wall Street crash gave them their first lesson. It says that ordinary working class folk don't deserve anything. And to all those who are losing your benefits I am sorry. But welcome to the party 
coming decades as the mushrooming income inequality gets in high gear, all fostered by your friendly Federal government in which types like the oh-so Honorable Messrs. Cantor and Ryan seem determined to achieve. 
Under Prop 13, that wealth does not necessarily wind up in city coffers. Most of the companies you associate with Silicon Valley (Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.) are located outside city limits. It's a Bizarro World where San Jose serves as a bedroom community for its own suburbs. California cities make most of their money from businesses and sales tax, not residential property tax. Again, most of the high-dollar shopping areas are outside the city (in one case, directly across the street!)
Even so, Mayor Reed (D-Also Opposes Marriage Equality) had no business going over his own city council's heads and bringing Measure B to a compliant subset of voters on a low-turnout primary ballot. 
Worse still, now that he's termed out, he's planning to take his act statewide, instead of crawling back under his rock as I had hoped. 
