4 ms·

It completely baffles me how any reasonable person could look at the retirement and health benefits situation in our country and come to the conclusion that our

• notdrunkatall 14y ago
  In case you didn't realize it, that costs the states money, and money is what states don't have.
  • LockeWatts 14y ago
    The states can find other things to cut than middle class benefits.
    • rayiner 14y ago
      Like what? E.g. in Chicago, the infrastructure is crumbling so that teachers can get paid far more than they would earn in the private sector given their qualifications, meanwhile getting 13 weeks off each year.
    • rdl 14y ago
      It's entirely possible for a state to have reasonable policy w.r.t. current and future expenses given a certain tax base, then lose that tax base and get stuck with unsupportable obligations. If NYC became Detroit over a period of 10 years, just pension liabilities would destroy it going forward.
  • Niten 14y ago
    In case you didn't realize it, tax rates closer on par with other developed countries are a perfect solution to that problem.
• bubbleRefuge 14y ago
  You are right about the status of retirement. However, the role of government is to serve the public first, not to serve public employees. Everyone should have a dignified retirement, perhaps on the order of 60% of earned wages. Social security benefits should be raised accordingly, retirement age should be lowered back to 65 for max benefits and we should mint a platinum coin to ensure its all funded.
• pc86 14y ago
  It completely baffles me how any person who can add could look at state budgets in our country and come to the conclusion that our problem isn't guaranteeing massive levels of debt for work done decades ago.
• matwood 14y ago
  It's not so much a wage thing, but companies that continue to act recklessly with their money typically go out of business. Governments and companies propped up by governments simply print more money and attempt to take more from their populace. There are simply no consequences for repeated poor actions. I am looking out my window now at a city project to build a park that is maybe 25 yards wide and 75 yards long. The property sits between a private car lot and an office building with no nearby parking, so I'll be surprised if I ever see anyone use it. That of of course assumes it is ever finished. It has been under construction for just over a year and still looks nowhere near complete. We joked a couple months ago while we watched workers move dirt from one pile to another and back again over the course of a month. Now of course this is a small probably <$5M project, but if government can't manage it how am I supposed to trust them to manage healthcare or retirement? So yes, it baffles me how any reasonable person could look at the retirement and health benefits situation in our country and come to the conclusion that government can provide a fix.
  • Niten 14y ago
    You indulge in too many fallacies here to address individually, but since you bring healthcare into the discussion, the bottom line is that we know that government-run healthcare works. See: almost every other developed Western country, while the US system remains fundamentally broken. You can engage in all the a priori pleading you like, but until you address that empirical, real-world fact there is no worthwhile argument to be had.