Public Pension "reform"

[SHRED]

I wish the average citizen would realize that employee pensions (retirement checks) are quickly turned back into the overall economy for life's necessities and roll over at least two-fold in the general economy to benefit us all.

These corporate backed "pension reform" and "taxpayer advocate" groups dominate the airwaves and leave out this fact.
They act as if pensions are stored away somewhere, like the wealthy do with their profits to avoid taxes, in the Cayman Islands.


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[elleng]

1. The 'average citizen' probably does realize this,

as many of us average citizens are paying our rent, phone and grocery bills, etc, with retirement checks. Its the b.s.-full repug blather that does not want to recognize this simple fact.

[dana_b]

2. And are the same politicians who are foaming at the mouth

for these reforms going to have their pensions "reformed"?

[MichiganVote]

3. AND that public employees uniformerly pay in or pay all of their pensions. Unlike CEO's.

[HiPointDem]

4. They're also funded mainly by deductions from employees' paychecks, not from public funds.

Another thing a lot of people don't seem to get.

[liza0105]

5. Funding gap for state retirement benefits over $1 trillion

A new study says that U.S. states are underfunded to pay the retirement benefits of public workers by as much as $1.38 trillion. In fat, the Pew Center for the States report found that, since the Great Recession, the gap has greatly widened between what states say they will pay for public worker pensions and what they have in available funds to do so. As of 2010, state coffers were short about $757 billion.

[SHRED]

6. And your point is?

[PETRUS]

7. Who knows?

If the poster's intent was to inform, some additional data would have been appropriate. I.e., this gap is over a 30 year time period and represents less than one half of one percent of projected household income.