Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (106057)	1/3/2010 6:39:45 PM
From: Bucky Katt	5 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

This goes with your post> Gilt-Edged Pensions: Don't let anyone tell you the American dream has faded. the truth is the U.S. is still minting lots of millionaires. Glenn Goss is one of them. Goss retired four years ago, at 42, from a $90,000 job as a police commander in Delray Beach, Fla. He immediately began drawing a $65,000 annual pension that is guaranteed for life, is indexed to keep up with inflation and comes with full health benefits. Goss promptly took a new job as police chief in nearby Highland Beach. One big lure: the benefits. Given that the average man his age will live to 78, Goss is already worth nearly $2 million, based on the present value of his vested retirement benefits. Looked at another way, he is a $2 million liability to Florida taxpayers. "When I got the job at 21, I knew it was a dangerous profession but that I'd be rewarded on the back end," says Goss. Even so, he adds, "The benefits back then weren't anywhere near what they've become today." The problem with this picture is not Glenn Goss. By all accounts he was a good cop. The problem is that there are millions of Glenn Gosses from Highland Beach to Honolulu. So many that they pose a vast, debilitating burden to state and local finances. They're creating a nasty social problem as well. America, in case you hadn't noticed, is dividing into two nations. The 22.5-million-strong public sector (that includes retirees) is growing ever larger, and enjoying ever greater wages and benefits often guaranteed by state constitutions. In private-sector America your job, assuming you still have one, hangs on the fate of the economy. If your employer ever offered a pension for life, like young officer Goss is receiving, odds are it has stopped doing so, or soon will. Those retirement accounts you scrimped and saved to assemble? Unless they are invested in Treasurys, they aren't doing too well. In private-sector America the math leads to the grim prospect of working longer and living poorer. In public-sector America things just get better and better. The common presumption is that public servants forgo high wages in exchange for safe jobs and benefits. The reality is they get all three. State and local government workers get paid an average of $25.30 an hour, which is 33% higher than the private sector's $19, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Throw in pensions and other benefits and the gap widens to 42%. more> Message 25496251

To: mishedlo who wrote (106057)	1/3/2010 7:12:58 PM
From: Jim McMannis	2 Recommendations Respond to of 116555

Pensions will bury the country...I'll say it again.

To: mishedlo who wrote (106057)	1/11/2010 12:02:49 AM
From: marcher	3 Recommendations Respond to of 116555

this country has been bankrupted by pure market privateers who stole middle class income by squeezing middle class workers and then sending middle class jobs to other countries. unions are the disinformational straw man, distraction. if unions had power, their numbers wouldn't be in rapid decline. greenhut affiliation with pacific research institute of the conservative-bias think tank/lobbyist culture: "The Pacific Research Institute has associated with other think-tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, The Fraser Institute, and the Cato Institute." en.wikipedia.org