Slash and Burn: The War Against California Pensions

[marmar]

Slash and Burn: The War Against California Pensions

Monday, 09 September 2013 09:59
By Gary Cohn, Frying Pan News | News Analysis


Benjamin Gamboa doesn’t know John Arnold, but they are linked by a shared concern over the fate of public-employee pensions in California.

“I’m proud to have a pension,” the 30-year-old Gamboa says. “I believe every American should have a pension.”

The two men live in very different worlds. Gamboa is a research analyst at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California. Arnold is a hedge-fund billionaire from Houston, Texas.

There’s another difference between them: Arnold recently had a representative present at a secret “pension summit” held at a Sacramento hotel, where strategies to limit public employee retirement benefits were discussed; Gamboa, a union member, did not – representatives of labor were specifically not invited.

“Pension reform” has become the latest battle cry in a seemingly endless war that has ostensibly been declared against tax-dollar waste, but whose single-minded purpose has been to slash the job protections and benefits enjoyed by California’s working middle class. Pension-cutting advocates have filled airwaves, websites and op-ed pages with stories about employees retiring in early middle age on six-figure pensions. The reality is that the average state and municipal worker retires on about $26,000 a year. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/18695-slash-and-burn-the-war-against-california-pensions

[AnneD]

1. John Arnold....

tried this last legislative session to crack open our Texas Teachers Retirement. Fortunately we fought him off but he is like a shark smelling blood in the water when it comes to pensions. He use to work for Enron, if that tells you anything.

It was a hard fought battle and we are ready to fight it again if need be. Good Luck California Pensioners.

[gopiscrap]

2. Fucking banking and business assholes

this country needs to wake up otherwise we will be working for peanuts til the day we die.