Republicans' Next Move: Get Rid of Pensions Altogether

[babylonsister]

Republicans' Next Move: Get Rid of Pensions Altogether

Some states, like Wisconsin, are asking state employees to contribute more to their pension plans, but others are just scrapping them.

Robert Hiltonsmith | March 11, 2011 | web only


(AP Photo/Mel Evans)


The battle over public-sector unions is, at least in part, a battle over benefits: From Wisconsin to New Jersey, public-sector unions are among the last employees who can expect to retire with defined pension plans. Wisconsin, where a political showdown just resulted in reduced bargaining rights for public employees, is expected to release new estimates on state pensions next week, according to The New York Times. The state will likely ask employees to contribute more money to their plans and make other concessions.

But other states have an even more radical proposal: Get rid of pensions, which guarantee benefits, and replace them with 401(k)-type savings-and-investment plans. Earlier this week, Kansas lawmakers held a hearing on a bill to switch state employees hired after 2012 to a 401(k) system -- a move at least six states have already made and that Florida, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Virginia are also considering. Kansas Republicans praised the bill, arguing that the state's pension system, currently facing a $7.7 billion shortfall, is unaffordable and that public workers don't deserve benefits unavailable to most private-sector employees.

The shortfall in Kansas' pension, like those in most states, was largely the result of the worst decade in the history of the stock market. As recently as the year 2000, the state's pension was 88 percent funded, a level that the Pew Center on the States, which tracks state pensions, considered adequate. The Center for Economic and Policy Research calculates that 85 percent of the pension shortfalls in states in the past decade were caused by this historically low economic performance. The rest of the hole in Kansas' fund opened up after state legislators decided not to increase contributions when benefits were raised in the early 1990s. Clearly, state pensions, Kansas' among them, are not unaffordable under normal economic conditions.

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http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=republicans_next_move_get_rid_of_pensions_altogether

[Duer 157099]

1. ..and then, retirement altogether n/t

[DailyGrind51]

6. Exactly! No pension, either no retirement or no consumer purchases!

The idea is to have the middle class invest their money in the financial instruments of Wall Street, instead of buying consumer goods, destroying stores that cater to the middle class, but keeping the high end stores for the plutocrats.

[GoCubsGo]

8. They DO want retirement.

They just want EVERYONE to have a shitty 401K, so they can steal from the rest of us, like they've been doing to private employees for the past 10-15 years.

[MichiganVote]

2. Republicans want much more than that. They want the cessation of the US.

[Blue Meany]

3. Next, get rid of salaries

[Puzzler]

4. Lets see if I understand this: get rid of pensions and social security too

problem solved then. Right?

[Still Sensible]

5. Actually they are just after public

pension plans right now... rich motherfuckers on Wall St run private plans, 401k funds, mutual funds, etc... Of course those said rich motherfuckers are always looking for ways to fuck with those funds, too--to try and make more money for themselves... that is what caused the fucking financial mess... credit default swaps and the like.

[LiberalFighter]

7. What do state elected officials receive? Will they eliminate pensions for them too?