Shofercia wrote:Katganistan wrote:
So basically, steal the money people earned through their working lives because you don't think they're entitled to it.
Classy.
Let alone that pensions certainly do not guarantee anyone "$120,000 a year".
Actually, they do. Might want to look up CalPERS, which invests pension funds on a whim, and then proceeds to demand that cities and counties cover the shortfall, should their own investments turn out to be mistakes.
https://calmatters.org/articles/comment ... nderwater/CalPERS was, by its own calculations, 100 percent funded during the 1990s and into the first decade of the 21st century – so healthy, in fact, that state and local officials felt free to sharply increase pension benefits retroactively. However, pension funds took immense hits during the Great Recession – CalPERS alone lost $100 billion – and most have not fully recovered.
In fact, between 2007 and 2016, before the 2017-18 stock market surge, CalPERS’ total liabilities increased by a startling 76 percent, from $248 billion to $436 billion, while its assets increased by just 19 percent, from $251 billion to $298 billion, sharply increasing the fund’s unfunded liabilities. The earnings surge, plus big increases in mandatory “contributions” from state and local governments, did raise CalPERS’ official funded level slightly to 70 percent, but that was still a long way from 100 percent – and now it’s declining again.
Very quietly, CalPERS officials told its governing board last month that the trust fund actually lost 3.9 percent during 2018, apparently due to the sharp stock market decline late in the year, pushing its funded level back down to about 67 percent.
If by "earned" it you mean "state and local officials felt free to sharply increase pension benefits retroactively" then sure they "earned" it. As for "no one" being guaranteed $120,000 in pensions, well: https://reason.com/2017/10/23/californi ... club-2016/Last week Transparent California released data showing that more than 62,000 retired California public workers earn at least six figures in annual retirement benefits.
So are you claiming that those 62,000 people don't exist, Katganistan? Or that all 62,000 earn between $100,000 and $119,999 in pension benefits? Ah, the entitlement mentality of some Californians, it never gets old.
Six figure income in parts of California is not a sign of wealth. In certain areas it's poverty.