Old issue, new post

Pensions. Followers may recall a couple months back I started talking about CalPers and the City of Los Angeles pensions. I talked about the misuse of the funds and tied it into an arrest in New York.

Criminal Investigation of CalPers

Now it is in the Daily News. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls. What happens when the biggest pension fund of any state goes bankrupt and all the misdeeds come to light? CalPers is responsible for the pensions and healthcare of 1.6 million people. It had $250 billion in assets.

What are the options? Firstly, they will expose the misdeeds and misuse. There will be arrests. Insider trading will be exposed. A flurry, a scandal. Some of the guilty will commit suicide. Accusations, anger, fear. All of these occur when these type of things come to light. In the end, the problem remains. The bad guys may be arrested, the system cleaned up; but, what about the money, it doesn't reappear.

Most people in California do not yet know what will be found out. This blogs readers should know. I wrote about it in detail. How does the problem get fixed. Additional taxes? I think not. Bankruptcy and change the benefits of retirees, perhaps. Or maybe, the Fed will assist. We shall see.

No matter what, the solution will also ensure that future government employees are not not given the same benefits. Government pensions often had a defined benefit. For every year you work, the employee was guarenteed a percentage at retirement. GM and other large companies did the same thing.

The purpose of having a defined benefit is to retain employees. After 20 years with a company, people with knowledge did not leave because they would lose their retirement. See, defined benefit retirements require you to have worked a specified number of years and reach a certain age to get the retirement.

The City of Los Angeles is not part of CalPers, yet it has a similar retirement system. I am 50, I cannot retire till I am 55. While I make a very good salary, I could make and have been offerred 7 times as much in private industry. I will not put the amount as it would probably shock people. It is a lot.

The reason for staying, in part, is that I would lose my health benefits and retirment. If I do stay I will retire and receive over $100,000 a year for life. I have made hundreds of millions of dollars for LA. While most cannot even understand doing such a thing, it is true. It is why I can be so brazen. I make a lot of cookies for others.

In the near future pensions that were "defined benefit" will be changed to pensions that are "defined contribution". In other words, government pensions will become like private pensions, 401ks. The government will not guarentee how much a pensioner receives, only guarentee what they contribute. The employee will decide where the money goes and can take it with him or her.

If I had a defined contribution pension, I would leave today. I would walk into the office on Tuesday and retire. I would then take a job with someone who wanted to contract with the government. I would be a consultant. I would show them how to bid contracts and get them. I can do that. I know the secrets. I am an expert at governmental accounting and purchasing.

As an alternate, I would consult for government. Charging three times what I currently make. They would pay. I know the rules, I know how things work. I apologize if this sounds like bragging, it is not the point. The point is that as screwed up as government is, some people make it work. They are the ones we need to keep in government. They are the ones who can make more on the outside.

Now, personally, I really don't care about my pension or my health benefits. Not why I joined government. Heck, I planned my career. I have a degree in Political Science for a reason. I do not expect to live long enough to get my pension. Very unlikely. I refuse to take the pills or see my doctor, don't care. Waste of time and very annoying to me. I do not need to be told that I should be dead anymore. I won't listen, don't care.

What I am discussing is what government will look like in the future. A change in benefits changes who enters government. It will no longer be able to compete for the best and brightest. It will not be able to retain them. That is the bigger problem.

The problem with short sightedness is that it guarentees collapse. The auto industry did not need to collapse, they focused on short term goals because the employees benefited short term, as did the stockholders. Immediate gratification and short term thinking led to our demise. Selfishness.

People will join the government with the intent of leaving once they know it's long term plans. They will then work in private industry to benefit from this knowledge. This is a bad thing. Most people are cookie chasers. If you prefer, rats looking for cheese.

After alimony, pay cut and taxes, I keep 38% of what I make. That is all. Not much reason to stay in such a job; but, I do. My motto, though I have many, is if you are playing poker and have four kings and your opponent has four aces, the thing to do is kick over the poker table. Yet, I do not.

Rambling, it is early and I am sleepy still. Oh, I should mention something. The reason retired government employees keep secrets, as in those who had "top secret" clearances is because they live under the threat for life of losing their retirement. I do not have top secret clearance, I was approved; but, did not join the fed. Many of my family and friends do have it.

What type of society are we creating. That is the issue above all others except one. The question of who we choose to be is the greatest. Are we creating a system that leads the weak willed to corruption or one that rewards the best in us?

Our prior society was corrupted, it led to it. Statements such as "greed is good" and "Looking out for number one" were corrupt and led to a consequence. Promoting such filth to children directed them to such filth as adults. People justify stealing millions because they give a thousand dollars to charity. We must justify our wrong doing. The ex does, so do many.

When Cain slew Abel he told God that he was not his brother's keeper. Are we not? We should reward those who help their fellow man. We should reward honesty, integrity, love and concern. We should promote those attitudes. We do not and will not. There are consequences for both them and us.

It is about balancing self interest and community interest. We are trending away from self interest to community interest. Neither works, there must be balance. The balance is achieved by defining oneself and working on our hearts. Neither reward nor punishment should outweigh what is right. That is heart.

Well, I have rambled enough. Silly words from a silly man. I am going back to bed. Because I can and want to. Be well.