Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning
cnbc.com
excerpt:
This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.
Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.
[...]
So the declining, little-known city of Prichard is now attracting the attention of bankruptcy lawyers, labor leaders, municipal credit analysts and local officials from across the country. They want to see if the situation in Prichard, like the continuing bankruptcy of Vallejo, Calif., ultimately creates a legal precedent on whether distressed cities can legally cut or reduce their pensions, and if so, how.
“Prichard is the future,” said Michael Aguirre, the former San Diego city attorney, who has called for San Diego to declare bankruptcy and restructure its own outsize pension obligations. “We’re all on the same conveyor belt. Prichard is just a little further down the road.”
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"...want to see if [...] ultimately creates a legal precedent on whether distressed cities can legally cut or reduce their pensions..."
The bastards! The mother****ing bastards!
It's alarming to note the ease that legal employment contracts between the government and its employees are discarded.
For the gazillionth time... It's NOT hard to balance a budget, significantly cut taxes, and meet all legal financial obligations. Not hard at all. -ng-
Eventually, teams of government lawyers will affect an underhanded, cut-throat legal maneuver to permit the government to avoid having to pay pensions, social security, and tax refunds... all nice and legal. -ng-
Even if they don't, the bastards will still impose their will arbitrarily -- you know...the way they do now. A broke pensioner won't have the means to fight back. -nfg-
I'm thankful that I planned my future so as not to rely on the government for anything beyond a hard time and their hands constantly grabbing at my wallet. -nfg- |
