DGS49
Diamond Member
I very recently retired at age 66 (my S.O. continues to work at age 64), and as I participate in "stuff" that retired people do (golf, vacation, bowl, etc), I am AMAZED at the percentage of people I encounter who are long-time retirees from Government jobs - mainly teachers. On a European river cruise two weeks ago, more than half of the passengers were retired government. Most retired in their EARLY 50's, and as I encounter them, although they are the same age as I am, they have been retired for more than a decade.
Statistically, this is not surprising. Government retirement plans provide for a solid "middle class" lifestyle in retirement, and given normal life expectancies, someone retiring at age, say, 53 will be retired and healthy for TWO or THREE TIMES as long as someone who retires at a "normal" 65 or - now - 66 years old.
How did this phenomenon come about? Simple. In the 60's and 70's, the best private sector employers were providing for 30-year retirement on a "defined benefit" basis, and government employers were following that trend. Parenthetically one might note the incestuous nature of government employee union negotiations. Those on the "Management" side of the table knew that any benefits that it conceded to the unions in negotiations would shortly be given back to them, as Management, in spades, thus the motivation to negotiate a "tough" contract was - hate to say it - non-existent.
But a funny thing happened in the private sector. The companies that were providing these lavish and early pensions ALL either went bankrupt (!) or switched to 401k's. Nevertheless, the Government pensions not only went on, uninterrupted by reality, but often became much sweeter than they already were. This was the result of later provisions that calculated the retirement stipend on the HIGHEST lifetime earnings, and the Government employees, with the full cooperation of their managers, were working gobs of OVERTIME to artificially inflate their retirement checks.
It is amazingly perverse!
And now the REST OF US - those of us who are paying income, wage, and school taxes - are paying for these inflated pensions, and being PROMISED that our taxes will be increasing dramatically to cover the known future costs, WHILE NOTHING IS DONE TO CORRECT THE INSANE GENEROSITY OF THE PLANS THAT ARE IN PLACE!
Nobody is even talking about the fact that Government workers are STILL retiring in their early 50's, that their pensions are STILL based on overtime-inflated earnings, and that the taxpayers are ALSO ON THE HOOK for "Cadillac" health benefits both before and after the retires are eligible for MEDICARE.
In short, our state and local elected officials have created a class of citizens who are figuratively picking all of our pockets; in many cases impoverishing our Senior Citizens (with property taxes) to the point where they may have to apply for various forms of public assistance themselves, all to support an insanely generous retirement package for people who, if truth be known, weren't exactly high performers when they were working! 40 years ago, the only people who went to work for Government were the people who couldn't get a job in the private sector - especially engineers, accountants, and lawyers - "bottom of the class."
And the politicians uniformly tell us, there's nothing that can be done about it. "Maybe," they say, "we can implement a 401k deal for new hires," [after we are all dead], "but we can't take away what has been promised to current government employees."
We are getting fucked, and I don't like it.
Statistically, this is not surprising. Government retirement plans provide for a solid "middle class" lifestyle in retirement, and given normal life expectancies, someone retiring at age, say, 53 will be retired and healthy for TWO or THREE TIMES as long as someone who retires at a "normal" 65 or - now - 66 years old.
How did this phenomenon come about? Simple. In the 60's and 70's, the best private sector employers were providing for 30-year retirement on a "defined benefit" basis, and government employers were following that trend. Parenthetically one might note the incestuous nature of government employee union negotiations. Those on the "Management" side of the table knew that any benefits that it conceded to the unions in negotiations would shortly be given back to them, as Management, in spades, thus the motivation to negotiate a "tough" contract was - hate to say it - non-existent.
But a funny thing happened in the private sector. The companies that were providing these lavish and early pensions ALL either went bankrupt (!) or switched to 401k's. Nevertheless, the Government pensions not only went on, uninterrupted by reality, but often became much sweeter than they already were. This was the result of later provisions that calculated the retirement stipend on the HIGHEST lifetime earnings, and the Government employees, with the full cooperation of their managers, were working gobs of OVERTIME to artificially inflate their retirement checks.
It is amazingly perverse!
And now the REST OF US - those of us who are paying income, wage, and school taxes - are paying for these inflated pensions, and being PROMISED that our taxes will be increasing dramatically to cover the known future costs, WHILE NOTHING IS DONE TO CORRECT THE INSANE GENEROSITY OF THE PLANS THAT ARE IN PLACE!
Nobody is even talking about the fact that Government workers are STILL retiring in their early 50's, that their pensions are STILL based on overtime-inflated earnings, and that the taxpayers are ALSO ON THE HOOK for "Cadillac" health benefits both before and after the retires are eligible for MEDICARE.
In short, our state and local elected officials have created a class of citizens who are figuratively picking all of our pockets; in many cases impoverishing our Senior Citizens (with property taxes) to the point where they may have to apply for various forms of public assistance themselves, all to support an insanely generous retirement package for people who, if truth be known, weren't exactly high performers when they were working! 40 years ago, the only people who went to work for Government were the people who couldn't get a job in the private sector - especially engineers, accountants, and lawyers - "bottom of the class."
And the politicians uniformly tell us, there's nothing that can be done about it. "Maybe," they say, "we can implement a 401k deal for new hires," [after we are all dead], "but we can't take away what has been promised to current government employees."
We are getting fucked, and I don't like it.
