Simply stop having, issuing, contributing to them:
Pensions should, by all logic and humanity, wind up
on the dustbin of history, in the tatters and ashes
they already are right now...
ONE:
Are they working? Do states and counties across
the U.S. fully fund them? Check with Illinois,
Indiana and New Jersey to understand me; two
of these states fund ~45% of the contractually,
legally mandated amounts. Some of these pensions
are partially paid for out of the workers' pockets,
so there is a greater moral aspect (reread: cheating,
lying, etc.) to the various states' bureaucratic,
budgetary bunglings.
TWO:
If pensions didn't exist, state budgets would be more
in the black than residing in the red; retirees would
not rely on them for future income; people would have
a more realistic, accurate awareness of just what
their situations are so as to better plan, accordingly,
spending less as the decades pass, saving more.
THREE:
Since economic dislocations have always occurred
(called "contractions" by economists), how can contracts
like these even make money or logic sense? Unions,
politicians, attorneys, accountants and judges better snap
to attention here: chaos is coming, if it hasn't already
arrived. This situation is, has been, impossible for a
very long time; apparently, negotiators get caught up in
minutiae (political power plays, rivalries, ego, etc.) at the
expense of fundamental realities, so such contracts,
completely untenable, are written--and taken seriously!
Individual investments and savings, along with a revitalized
social security system, make more sense than over-generous
pension benefits predicated on an economic future which may/
may not ever exist, burdening the tax payers twice, through
government-funded pensions and social security.
My solution:
Make the greatest, most just payout amounts
now for those with pensions; then pass a
federal fiduciary act abjuring the entire U.S.
pension system from that point forward.
Stop the insanity; understand historical,
current financial reality, explain this carefully
to our people--THEN ACT.
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Here here Amber!! I will add a mini solution of my own.
ReplyDeleteAllow Crooked ILL INOIS politicians out of prison early. Better yet NEVER PUT THEM IN PRISON in the first place. Let them do reality shows, movies, etc, While on extended house arrest. Take up to ONE HALF of what they earn and return it to Illinois and the people.
Not bad, Lester, not bad at all...
DeleteGreat article! Beautiful written and informative post. Thanks....
ReplyDeleteThanks Amber. Blogo could be out here now on Oprah, on reality shows, etc, Making money for Illinois. Instead he is in the BIG HOUSE tax payers paying for him THEY may have a suite there all the crooks POLITICIAN types been going there all these decades.
ReplyDeleteIf pensions did not exist, budgets would be in the black? And, if education was free. Tautology, but it says nothing about the underlying subject of whether pensions ought to exist. IRA-401-K plus Social Security? The reality is that people, left to their own devices, are generally not saving and are generally not good investors on their own. Punch up Social Security? How, exactly? Since its inception, current workers have funded recipients. How would you fix things as that ratio becomes more and more unfavorable? The same basic financial principles that underpin Social Security and investing underpin any savings-and-investment program. Citizens and politicians who ignore history (and math) are doomed to repeat it (and not have a clue when they are being taken). Illinois is a market crash like any other. Like the recent housing crash, everyone with an ounce of sense knew that was coming. Though the impact was more unpredictable. In this case, instead of taxpayers bailing out the banks, we're going to bail out our state-city-county pensioned neighbors who also knew this was coming, but were comfortable in the fact they were safe from harm. Not so people with private pensions. If you live long enough, life doles out expensive lessons on a fairly regular basis.
ReplyDelete