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California: Green shoots
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    California lawmakers approved the broadest rollback of public-employee pension benefits in the state’s history after Governor Jerry Brown and Democrats who control the Legislature struck a last-minute deal.

    The overhaul, which may save taxpayers as much as $55 billion over 30 years, would require new employees to pay half the cost of their benefits and work longer before they can retire. It also reduces formulas for calculating benefits and caps pension payments.

    Retirement checks for new workers would be based on wages capped at about $110,000 a year, or $132,000 for those not covered by the federal Social Security system, adjusted for inflation. For most new civil servants who aren’t police officers or firefighters, the minimum retirement age for full benefits would increase to 67 from 55.

    Via: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-31/california-lawmakers-send-public-pension-cutback-to-brown.html

  • 13 Replies sorted by
  • vicharrisvicharris

    Good god! 55 to 67!!! That's crazy.

  • nomadnomad

    If you work till you drop, they save on health care for the elderly too :-((

  • BuellerBueller

    As they say here in the US. As California goes so does the nation.

  • bannedindvbannedindv

    Well, not sure what the perspective is of some of the above responses but my mother is a teacher here in California.

    The retirement age for Teachers is 65. My mom is about 6 years away from that.

    She has the option of retiring sooner but you don't get your full benefits if you do, it's tiered or scaled.

    Why should a firefighter or cop get to retire at 55 for full benefits (imagine they join the force at 35) and a teacher has to work until 65?

    Granted 67 is overkill to me - However - and I'm not saying that being a policeman or firefighter is not tough grueling work - but - it is quite a bit different here than in Chicago or New York. Temperature rarely goes below 65 in the urban centers here, but summer is quite hot. I'm pretty sure they keep the AC pumping in the copcars, fire stations, police stations etc.

    It's not like being stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq.

    But yes, I hope this gives people a bad perception of California so that less jerk-offs move here.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    But yes, I hope this gives people a bad perception of California so that less jerk-offs move here.

    Yep, always look for good side of things :-)

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @bannedindv Yeah, less jerk-offs!!!!!!

  • brianlucebrianluce

    Why should a firefighter or cop get to retire at 55 for full benefits (imagine they join the force at 35) and a teacher has to work until 65?

    Two things. I'm an ex-LA Firefighter and our pensions maxed out at 70% with 30 years of service and minimum age of 55 (or 50 depending on the pension tier). This is standard and typical of all the departments I'm familiar with in CA. The other thing, Firefighting destroys your body -- all the guys I knew that stayed around that long had jello for knees and backs that couldn't lift a cup of coffee. You do NOT want a 60 year old Fireman attempting to rescue you. It's a young guy's job.

  • stoneystoney

    67 yo firefigher? That's harsh...

  • rockroadpixrockroadpix

    I'm trying to picture a 62 year old humping 50lbs of hose up 10 flights...

    Yeah, not good.

  • LPowellLPowell

    For US Social Security benefits, the earliest retirement age is 62, with earned benefits reduced by about 30%. "Full" retirement age is 67, for 100% of earned benefits. For those not familiar with the system, Social Security is not an "entitlement", it's a deferred income program funded by taxes deducted from your paycheck over the entirety of your career.

  • bannedindvbannedindv

    I'm not saying they should have to work their balls off dragging a firehose up stairs. - there are many administrative positions best served by those with seniority as well. Experienced veterans.

    Same for the police force.

    Elderly Police are usually the ones on location set protection duty here in LA county - its like a bonus gig for them.

  • zcreamzcream

    Now if they would just shut down the Empire and Wall Street, it may be time for me to move back to Cali.

  • rockroadpixrockroadpix

    @bannedindv - There are only so many of those postions to go around, and there should be fewer. Now you're just paying someone to punch a clock for the sake of punching a clock. Then there's (no pun) burnout due to job stress.

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