Sure, companies have reneged on their promises to pay pension obligations.

This way we can fund really important things like food banks, mental health, police protection,
for help for low income people, better medicaid payments.

The top one hundred pensions in Illinois are due 583M dollars ninety nine of them are school administrators. Whats more important forking over 100K a year to some retired school administrator. Who's probably living in Florida right now anyway or making sure that some homeless family has a place to stay or food to eat.

Govt is not a company and those who think it should be run like one know nothing about government. The laws are very different.

We struggle enough in Illinois just to retain qualified professionals to serve us- My cousin was (WAS) a professor at U of I but got sick of the State being late on health insurance payments resulting in his Dr's threatening to collect against him and his family. I'm not sure we in Illinois really understand the gravity of the situation. Too many are ready to pull an NC and leave. I will be as soon as the youngest is out of college.

Again whats more important a family on welfare who needs to have medical treatment. Prenatal care for poor working families. Mental health care. Giving more money to food banks and shelters. Making sure that special ed is fully funded.

Or that some retired politician or school administrator get their six figure retirement for the next thirty years.

They will pull an NC and leave in part because of the ridiculous taxes they will have to pay.

Consider this a single mom making 40K a year currently pays 1140 a Year in State income taxes.

Under Quinns plan she will pay 1700.00 a year. All so that some highly compensated people can retire at the ripe old age of 52.

quote:

Sure, companies have reneged on their promises to pay pension obligations.

An neighbor worked over 40 years for UAL. They let him go a year ago. He was trying to "stick it out" for another year or two so he could get something a little closer to his expected $45K per year pension.

He'll be lucky to get $15K annually now. Pretty sure that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) is handling UAL's pensions nowadays.

I left government years ago when the writing was on the wall- and the need to put my kids through college and retire someday (no, the promise(?) of a pension without profit sharing, matching 401K's and performance bonuses, plus benefits that were approaching the cost of the private sector was not real conducive to continued public service). Seems like I made the right decision because judging from what's being written here our schools, judicial system, social system (did someone actually say Illinois might spend more money on social welfare if pensions were eliminated? LOL!), are going to deteriorate further, law enforcement,........ah what the heck, goad me all you will. If as a state we actually revoke promised pensions for public employees, well this will become a really interesting place to live. Maybe you can tar and feather the public employees- if you can find any. LOL

My theory is we should establish the draft for everyone to serve a year of public service. It would quickly be a better country.

Ackerman- Whats left of the State is almost entirely a waste, except for a few who hang on out of a sense of obligation to public service, bless them. Nobody's lining up for State of Illinois jobs, even if they were available- we can't afford to pay competitive wages or benefits for professional employees or apparently pensions.

Champion news? Anyone care to google it? Wow. Roesner Looneyville.

A few skeletons eh Gus?

Guy, the most recent comment at that site is circa 2006.

Additionally, who uses screen names like "Former employee", "beaten ex-wife" -and- "ex-wife and kids"?

Sorry, the posts under those screen names look fake and faker. Even if they are from back when the White Sox were in the World Series.

I'm sure they're hanging on because of their deep obligation to public service.

Professional employee- lawyer, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, engineer, planner, scientist, teacher, etc. You do know these people are employed by the government? Yes, lets pay them squat and see who applies and what kind of service we get.

Competitive wage including benefits must be close to the real world. Would you disagree?

I regularly interact with government and yes, there really are people who have a sense of obligation and enjoy public service even though they're often treated like dirt, not not enough to provide good government services. Wow, I though I was a little jaded...

I just can't get the disconnect. Jaded with public employees? The brain drain has been going on for years in govt- we had pretty good employees at one time. For example, a few years ago I saw a help wanted add for a pharmacist to work in a govt. healthcare institution. (I am not a pharmacist but know one) and when I showed him the ad he said the pay was maybe 60% of what the going rate for a pharmacist. What do you think we get for that, regardless of the pension debate which is not new. You probably get a guy on a probational license, probably because of prescription drug abuse, who no one else will touch. Great, lets hire him and then complain about his job performance.

Keep that head firmly planted in the sand.
But- If gov was such a great place to work, why do our gov employees suck?

Ah I give up. You guys aren't making sense economically.

Gus- you mean places like Cook County hospital pays emergency room nurses 90K a year? LOL
Post some facts please. Hard to believe public nurses make almost twice the private rate.

And as I asked before - what should professional public employees be compensated at?

From what I see written here:

A. Government is a great place to work due to the wonderful pension and compensation. Or;

B. Our public employees are incompetent.

If A. was true, everyone would aspire to public service.
If B. was true than few want public service and we get what we pay for.

Judging by what has been stated here in disparaging public employees, A. is not reality.

Can't have it both ways peeps.

I was responding to your statement about the salary of emergency room nurses in public hospitals Gus.

As for D87 I'd give it about a B. The north shore seems to be able to do a bit better with a bit less tax money. Probably the public school system to beat in IL., though I'm sure people complain there also. Still we have some of the best schools in the nation by most standards. I'll pay the price.

I thought "getting out the vote" by public employees was a Ryan thing. I'm sure it was a Blago thing and is now a Quinn thing. So far those two haven't been accused of it though.

Your brother in law may have gotten passed over but if he's old enough, that's usually why the party in charge hands out the big pensions- "Thanks for playing the game- you lose. But here's early retirement with a bonus". That plus reducing high paid older employees (usually termed job age discrimination, but who complains with the great pension offer?).

And public or private it works pretty much the same way. Get bought out and maybe the new company wants to get rid of you to make way for their guys- it's called a golden parachute. Or at least a darn good buy out if your aren't that high up.