judging from the teeny audience size, the hush hush "forum" on public pensions was an exercise in secrecy..it appears that a few elderly News-Press subscribers were the only ones there!! who sponsored this thing?? ran out of time and money....
first of all if you work all your life, you need to think about a time when you won't work..it behooves every working person who wopn't get a trust fund or inheritance or divorce settlement, to put money into some savings account..if your employee offers to match you contributions then good for them...any contracts between employer and employee can be negotiated at the bargaining table...it's not just pensions but safety items and over-all benefits that are given or taken away..that's what negotiation is..give and take...the notion that public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively is nonsense; the notion that pro-labor politicians will always favor unions is also nonsense....
first of all if you work all your life, you need to think about a time when you won't work..it behooves every working person who wopn't get a trust fund or inheritance or divorce settlement, to put money into some savings account..if your employee offers to match you contributions then good for them...any contracts between employer and employee can be negotiated at the bargaining table...it's not just pensions but safety items and over-all benefits that are given or taken away..that's what negotiation is..give and take...the notion that public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively is nonsense; the notion that pro-labor politicians will always favor unions is also nonsense....
now Lanny has been braying at the moon like a wounded donkey for the last two years to get an extreme POLITICAL agenda on the 2012 ballots..of course he failed as did his anti public worker cronies but the News-Press refuses to print that story! and the conservatives in Wisconsin that went after collective bargaining are running and hiding too....poor Gov Walker's only safe place is FOX NEWS and he's lawyered up after all the malfeasance he and his aides are accused of while he was working for a municipality a few years ago....guys like Walker are part of the problem, not the solution..and the reason Wendy hates unions is because of her mismanagement of the News-Press, the workers unionized...and she broke numerous labor laws....
things got bad and things got worse, guess you know the tune...
and the News-Press article by Kathryn Watson keeps calling Lanny Dr. Ebestein and points to Stockton as a reason why
public pensions are bad.. first of all Lanny's a doctor like Dr. Laura's a doctor..they are both quacks!the city of Stockton is contemplating filing for bankruptcy because of mismangement, not pensions....Stockton has high crime high unemployment and high foreclosure rates..the city bought too many luxury items with bonds and was flush with cash during the housing boom..but the bust means the exorbitant bills came due..."The city didn't have the discipline to live within its means," City Manager Bob Deis said. "The city should've limited its dreams and built less." ....same thing happened to Vallejo...Vallejo emerged from bankruptcy in November after cutting workers' pay, requiring bigger employee contributions to health insurance, renegotiating its debt with major creditors, and scaling back or eliminating city services and payments to bondholders. But facing what could've been a costly and lengthy legal battle with CalPERS, it left pensions intact and actually increased annual payments into the state system. Voters narrowly OK'd a $10 million sales tax hike in November, but revenues remain scant.
and Lanny Ebenstein is a perfect example of the kind of mindset that created the housing crisis: he lost some homes to forecfosure, got sued for operating a nuisance pothouse in Eureka because he was financially illiterate!! and then he runs to rich Wendy to be her little puppet against unions..
ok so some public pension issues will be part of Gov Brown's initiative....there's a little tweaking there and these will be voted on...Brown over-reached because raising the retirement age is unnecessary..if you start work in your 20s and hit your 50s, you want some time off, not more work until your late 60s...that's why it's crucial to plan and close all the corporate loopholes that rip the worker off..do you want a 67 year old fireman responding to your house burning down? of course not..that dude should be playing golf, not putting out fires!
but before the one percenters and their puppets go crazy, they need to look at history..
under Arnold as governor: The last two budget agreements worked out by the Legislature and signed by the governor include provisions that permanently cut billions in revenue from the corporation tax -- with the state getting next to nothing in return.
and from as far back as Calif Gov Pete Wilson in 1992: "The pilfering of the golden nest eggs is alarmingly widespread. In the past two years more than a third of the states have cut or delayed contributions to their pension funds, seized money outright from pension accounts, or begun to debate similar measures"
but before the one percenters and their puppets go crazy, they need to look at history..
under Arnold as governor: The last two budget agreements worked out by the Legislature and signed by the governor include provisions that permanently cut billions in revenue from the corporation tax -- with the state getting next to nothing in return.
and from as far back as Calif Gov Pete Wilson in 1992: "The pilfering of the golden nest eggs is alarmingly widespread. In the past two years more than a third of the states have cut or delayed contributions to their pension funds, seized money outright from pension accounts, or begun to debate similar measures"
THE GREAT PENSION ROBBERY
States and cities are plundering employee pension funds to ease their budget crises. Taxpayers may be stuck if the plans can't meet their future obligations.
As the July 1 start of the fiscal year neared, Republican Governor Pete Wilson was staring at a $14 billion budget deficit. So to help make ends meet, Wilson decided to take $1.6 billion from the coffers of the $63 billion California Public Employee Retirement System. Known as Calpers, the fund covers most state workers except teachers, who have their own plan. Wilson also tried to replace the 13-member Calpers board with a new nine-member group that he would control. Dale Hanson, the system's irate chief executive, called this scheme a ''hostile takeover.'' The backlash against the governor came immediately. State employees blocked the driveway to the capitol's garage to protest looting the fund and packing the board, and they overwhelmed their representatives with calls, telegrams, and visits. Wilson threatened them with salary reductions, furloughs, and layoffs of up to 20,000 workers if they succeeded in foiling his plans. Robbery and blackmail, cried Fortney H. Stark, the liberal Democratic Congressman from Oakland. He accused Wilson of conspiring to turn workers' savings into a ''giant slush fund'' that would ''hide the real cost of government.'' In the end, the California legislature prevented Wilson from reconfiguring the board but let him have the $1.6 billion from the pensioners' cost-of- living account anyway.
now if you want to see how crazy the teabaggers have gotten, Florida Gov Rick Scott signed into law random drug tests for state workers..if they don't submit they could lose benefits...Scott also owns a company that administers these types of tests...this is fascism in Florida folks......the Florida law will be challenged of course but this is typical ignorant nonsense from the teabagger conservatives, like Lanny and Wendy amd Nipper....
maybe it's time to Occupy the News-Press..just for a little fun until they start printing the truth
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