If your family faced crushing debt, you had very little money in the bank, and your bills exceeded your income by $5000 a month, would you get excited and congratulate yourself if you lowered your expenses to be only $4500 more than your income each month?
That is what the state government is doing with "pension reform." And they hope you don't notice that when it is time to pay the piper, it is your pocket they will be going into. (Actually, they don't care if you notice "pension" costs will soon be going up $1 billion a year faster than we can pay them in a state that "makes" $9 billion a year. They are counting on you not to tell everyone you know.)
The General Assembly goes into special session June 23, but real pension reform, the kind that might prevent us from having expenses we can never pay, isn't even on the table for discussion.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Happy "Go Bankrupt Slower In Kentucky" Day!
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4 comments:
I haven't seen anyone describe this problem as clearly as you just did. You are dead on right about this and most people have no idea what is coming.
I wonder how longer the political 'rope a dope' trick will continue to work. Its has obviously worked just fine for a long time. They are still comfortable with setting up committees to postpone everything. And then the committee is not empowered to act and is not accountable. So nothing really has happened except delay again and again a too tough decision for politicians conflicted by self-interests. Oh, but they can tell us again that this issue is quite complex and very complicated. Not really. We can't afford it and it needs substantial real change.
can somebody tell me why we are going to pay $60000/day for a June special session when the governor has convened a task force to address the issue that does not report until November? What happens if there is a really smart person who slipped onto this task force that comes up with a really good idea that actually addresses the problem and comes up with a real fix - will the GA have to meet again at $60000/day to undo tax reform, whoops pension reform, well maybe both -
not to worry - this task force was appointed by the governor - Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the governor's appointees - nope no intelligent lifeforms here
Good questions.
Actually, there are some good people with good ideas on the task force, but not enough of them for sanity to prevail. Actually, Todd Lowe was on Fletcher's BRC as well as this one. He got plowed under on that one, too.
The path to a real solution is not that complex. Cut health benefits for current and future employees and retirees. Put future employees in a 401-k style plan, fire the investment people we have in there now and replace them with either better managers and/or with index mutual funds.
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