Social apartheid refers to de facto segregation on the basis of class or economic status in which an underclass develops which is separated from the rest of the population.According to HMEPS a city employee can work 30 years and then retire on 63.01% of their highest annual pay, with medical insurance for $149/mo. Or do 25 years and get half, plus medical.
Why encourage our kids to study science or engineering and go work in the private sector? Go work for the government, do your thirty, retire at age 49 or 50 with a lifetime ironclad pension and cheap medical coverage. Start a second career and double-dip. Go work at Walmart part time on weekends and it would pay for some nice overseas vacations.
I can see why a beat cop or fireman needs to be mustered out at 50. But why should a desk jockey? If you're not on the streets wrecking your body for the public good you should get the same retirement benefits as everyone else. That means Social Security, 401k plans that you pay into and any money you save on your own.
Texas teachers did some absurd things to game the system a few years ago. Most Texas teachers do not pay into Social Security. They have their own pension system. Until 2-3 years ago, if a Texas teacher worked so much as a day in a school district that didn't participate in the TRS, they could get both SS benefits and TRS benefits. Which led to the absurd sight of thousands of teachers in Houston and Dallas going to smaller Texas cities for a day to "work" as janitors. I am not making this up. I know people who did this. All of these school districts colluded in this gigantic rip-off. Of course this isn't fair to teachers who worked in the private sector for 20 years and paid into SS and then chose teaching as a second career. They lose SS benefits and have to start all over at age 42 with the TRS.
The whole system sucks. I think it should all be a level playing field. I think it will be very soon as these government pension schemes go bankrupt and taxpayers refuse to pay for 50-year-old retirees by voting with their feet and leaving.
Update: Welcome Chronicle readers!
11 comments:
I expect very few comments for this, or a lot. :-)
Yup. This one did hit home for me obviously. Yes, some bad actors gamed the system and hosed the taxpayers pretty hard. Don't forget, they'd pay some decent hard cash for the right to "work" in one of those districts for a day. Seriously, they payed to work there. But it was a real bonus benefits wise.
One of the very large reasons that I switched from a six figure brokerage salary to a slightly less than mid 5's teacher salary (other than the whole vacation issue) was the pension. I'm still (relatively) young and can see myself retiring at 65/70 with my pension.
Though, I frankly work more teaching than I did as a broker. I'd also feel comfortable in saying my stress levels in many ways actually went up. Funny. But then I'm one of those dedicated ones. But then I do get vacation and all in all I'm pretty well compensated.
TSTRS does worry me. Read FIASCO by Portnoy and that is the main reason why I worry about not just teacher retirement plans but any pension or manged money.
I'm 28 and I don't see how I will ever be able to retire. Not that I'd ever want to. I can see retiring from my main career and doing something part time to keep some income rolling in and (more importantly) to stay mentally active.
I think people need to get rid of the notion of complete retirement. In the grand scheme of things retirement is a recent innovation. It's a luxury that demography will not allow for too much longer.
Paul writes,
Try being a tradesman. I'll be 52 in January, too late for me, but for young people I recommend getting on the tit, or welfare, or some sort of grifting.
Do you know why( on the east coast, anyways ) auto repairs, boat yards, etc have labor rates at $60-$80/hr? Because that is what they have to charge YOU for
1. Labor for the ever fewer intelligent people to do real work.
2. Insurance,taxes, overhead, the building, health, dental..
3. Some profit on the labor.
So, how do you think it feels, to have to go hat in hand, on bended knee, to some fat, lazy, pension day counting, fully benefited permit nazi to beg for papers like as if you are scum of the earth, to make, maybe, $30/hr, pre tax, no paid days off, provided it isn't snowing, raining, blowing, or ungodly hot?
And you wonder why construction is done by illegals?
What reasonably hardworking, fairly intelligent America would do such a thing? Answer. There's about eight of us left.
(I should of gone to work at the town's Dept of Public 'Works'. I'd be fully pensioned and working Home Depot for beer money by now. )
By the way, my full size GM van is immobile the third time in 70k miles. Next vehicle will be a Isuzu Box truck, as I'll be working to pay that bailout for Detroit, Wall Street.
A lot times I see a program about some ancient civilization and they mentioned that 'work suddenly' stopped. The tools were left there...as if....
It's no mystery to me.
I'm 28 and I don't see how I will ever be able to retire. Not that I'd ever want to.
You and me both. Assuming I make it to AARP status, just give me a few weeks off each year so I can travel. I saw what mandatory retirement did to my grandfather.
I am not sure why people enjoy being unproductive. Sure, it would be great for 6 months or so I think. Then, a void.
The public school system in the US is a perverse joke benefitting absolutely nobody but the union membership.
How much do these teachers make? I'm a gov't employee in Norway and we get a good pension plan to compensate for lower salaries in the public sector ( Have to retire at 67 like everyone else though.) Is that the idea behind this scheme too?
@Tesla - I agree with you about retirement. Retirement ate my dad's soul and considering I've got his drive and personality, I just never saw myself retiring.
@Aslak - I earn about 43.000 per anum. But then I do teach in a district that pays extra because the students are pretty rough at times (like the one whose probation officer gets cc'd in on letters home) as well as a stipend for math. However, I do work roughly 9 months out of the year which for the US is unique.
Compared to the private sector, I'm paid much less. Like I mentioned before, I took a HUGE paycut to teach. However, I am happy because I love what I do and enjoy making a difference in the world. q
Scott, that confirms my point. Good pension plans are necessary to compensate for lower salaries in the public sector.
Lou is right about the retirement age though. Letting people retire at 50 is just wasteful
Maybe it's different where you live, but I must take issue with comparison of cops and teachers.
Teachers here work, not real hard, but at least their present and accounted for during the work week.
Cops on the other had, are a waste of human flesh. They sit around all day, doughnut in one hand coffee in the other. Occasionally raising their lard ass from their cruiser long enough to violate someone's civil rights.
And a teachers job is more dangerous.
Paul
Yesterday we had a statewide drill. As a city employee (full-time, full-status, with benefits), I participated in the crisis management room for the shift I was assigned. In a real emergency, I am *expected* to report to work or to the nearest municipality to participate in recovery efforts, for which I received training.
I am a librarian. Sounds easy? Try helping a college student who probably shouldn't have received a high school diploma how to assemble a four-page term paper when the community college librarians in the area can't spend the time. There's work with children, managing our collection, tracking our budget, hosting programs for the community, participating at our booth to show the community they're getting their taxes worth.
Contact with children causes the same diseases (viral infections, flu, etc.) which schoolteachers get. We need the sick leave we accrue - a day a month. The vacation we accrue - and I have no complaints - helps recover and clear my mind.
As a professional, my work really never stops. It's the same for my colleagues, whether or not they have letters after their names. We're not just sitting on our asses waiting for 50. Want to be a cop? A firefighter? Want to live on that kind of unnatural level of adrenaline for 25 or 30 years? What does that do to a human body?
I'm not saying the system is perfect. We need to expand medical care and a better pension system to every American, not take away from the people who are serving you behind the scenes. Cut the desk clerk a break when you go to a city or county office the next time. We're not just marking time.
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