It's the same old story... The unions give money to the liberals so that they can be re-elected. The liberals then give the unions a sweet package (Quid Pro Quo). When the schools or the poor need additional resources, cutting that sweet govenment-employee package is off the table. The public isn't paying attention so the party goes on.
It's the same old story. The corporations (or the rich) give money to the conservatives so they can be re-elected. The conservatives (or the rich) then give the corporations a sweet package (Quid Pro Quo). When the schools or the poor need additional resources, cutting the sweet corporate welfare package (or capital gains tax, or repeal of the "death tax") is off the table. The public isn't paying attention so the party goes on.
When an employee, government or otherwise, signs on to a system with a particular set of rules, and works decades under those rules, it is unethical (and should be illegal) to rob them of their pension. That is no different than the government arbitrarily removing part of someone's 401K or Roth IRA, IMO.
I'm not pointing the finger at any one individual, but there is a self-righteousness on this board toward pensions, and particularly government pensions, that strikes me as very mean-spirited, intolerant, and elitist. I have no problem with someone making an argument (like HaHa), that rules for pensions should be changed. But I think that to change them AFTER someone has put in their time is just plain wrong.
Considering the giveaways by the Bush administration to the well-to-do, and considering the attempted takeaways (like overtime pay for huge groups of wage earners), pensioners are the last group in my book that should be targeted. Of course, that could be in part because I will become one not too far down the road.
Personally, I feel the same way about low tax rates for the well-to-do. We just can't afford them anymore. Even though it would affect me as well.
Frankly, there are very few people (including myself) on this board I feel sorry for. Nor do I feel the need to begrudge anyone else on this board anything they have earned. It is just plain petty to single out government workers and claim that they have not worked as hard as anyone else just because their payment comes in a different form and on a different schedule.
