spitzer on romney, taxes

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jms62

How about elimination of government pensions and make them 401K's like everyone else has for the last 30 years. How about and I know I will catch a rash of **** here but how about military pensions/police mentions starting at 65. There is so much ****ing waste in the system but those that are responsible for fixing the problem are benefitting from it so it will never be fixed.

retirement ages need altering, i've been saying that for some time. typically, military and police/fire depts have had full retirements at 20, sometimes 25 years. in rare cases, 30 years service is required.

when my father joined the d.c. police dept, you had to serve 30 years to retire. then it changed to 20, he received full retirement while i was still in high school. he was 43 years old. his retirement pay and benefits are something that many would turn pea green with envy if they saw them. last i heard, they'd raised retirement to 25 years service. considering the rates of return any more on pension plans, it's no surprise that cities are in a tremendous bind. they used to make money while offering decent pensions-those days have been over for years now. yet no one in the govt agencies, city agencies, etc changed with the times. as interest dropped, they didn't change to go with those hits on pensions. now they're in a huge hole.

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Danzig

retirement ages need altering, i've been saying that for some time. typically, military and police/fire depts have had full retirements at 20, sometimes 25 years. in rare cases, 30 years service is required.

when my father joined the d.c. police dept, you had to serve 30 years to retire. then it changed to 20, he received full retirement while i was still in high school. he was 43 years old. his retirement pay and benefits are something that many would turn pea green with envy if they saw them. last i heard, they'd raised retirement to 25 years service. considering the rates of return any more on pension plans, it's no surprise that cities are in a tremendous bind. they used to make money while offering decent pensions-those days have been over for years now. yet no one in the govt agencies, city agencies, etc changed with the times. as interest dropped, they didn't change to go with those hits on pensions. now they're in a huge hole.

My father was a police officer in NJ, joined the force at 23, got credit for 4 years of Air Force service in Germany and retired with a full pension at age 41. Hasn't worked since other than the occasional kitchen job since he likes to cook but always gets paid in $. Started collecting SS two years back, lives on the water in FL without a care in the world.
I do not condone this as being appropriate.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

My father was a police officer in NJ, joined the force at 23, got credit for 4 years of Air Force service in Germany and retired with a full pension at age 41. Hasn't worked since other than the occasional kitchen job since he likes to cook but always gets paid in $. Started collecting SS two years back, lives on the water in FL without a care in the world.
I do not condone this as being appropriate.

yeah, my father is 71 and still works part time at the golf course where he lives. it's absurd, just like military pensions. and just like full ss paid when you turn 65-and a loser like my bro in law will collect full benefits with the bare minimum worked. it's all absolutely ridiculous. there are so many real issues that need addressing, but all the pols in dc (yes, ALL of them, regardless of party affiliation) work only on keeping their seats. they kick all problems down the road.
don't work on debt, just keep raising the ceiling (both parties).
don't do an ss fix (both parties) just keep saying it only needs minor tweaking, but don't even effing do the tweaking.
don't address medicare/caid-just cut payments to doctors, while doing nothing about fraud, waste and abuse.
don't do anything about defense (both parties) because the contractors provide jobs in their hometowns, and that might cost votes.

what are (again, repeating myself) the two biggest drains on the federal govt? defense, and 'entitlements'. not foreign aid, not any of the other depts in the federal govt.
so, one would have to assume, that if those two areas were properly addressed, the debt/deficit issues would be resolved.

as for taxes-the rich are paying less in taxes than they have in decades. as their share has gone down, the supposed jump in hiring has NOT occurred. those cuts haven't worked! yet people want to continue them. why? i'll tell you why.
because the rich control the purse strings. the two big parties need cut off at the knees.

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yeah, my father is 71 and still works part time at the golf course where he lives. it's absurd, just like military pensions. and just like full ss paid when you turn 65-and a loser like my bro in law will collect full benefits with the bare minimum worked. it's all absolutely ridiculous. there are so many real issues that need addressing, but all the pols in dc (yes, ALL of them, regardless of party affiliation) work only on keeping their seats. they kick all problems down the road.
don't work on debt, just keep raising the ceiling (both parties).
don't do an ss fix (both parties) just keep saying it only needs minor tweaking, but don't even effing do the tweaking.
don't address medicare/caid-just cut payments to doctors, while doing nothing about fraud, waste and abuse.
don't do anything about defense (both parties) because the contractors provide jobs in their hometowns, and that might cost votes.

what are (again, repeating myself) the two biggest drains on the federal govt? defense, and 'entitlements'. not foreign aid, not any of the other depts in the federal govt.
so, one would have to assume, that if those two areas were properly addressed, the debt/deficit issues would be resolved.

as for taxes-the rich are paying less in taxes than they have in decades. as their share has gone down, the supposed jump in hiring has NOT occurred. those cuts haven't worked! yet people want to continue them. why? i'll tell you why.
because the rich control the purse strings. the two big parties need cut off at the knees.

Yet Scott Brown will be voted out this year in lieu of another party line sheep. Shame, I hope he moves to Colorado if it goes down. Think I should send him a note?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Yet Scott Brown will be voted out this year in lieu of another party line sheep. Shame, I hope he moves to Colorado if it goes down. Think I should send him a note?

that's the thing...one party loses, their imminent death as a viable party is proclaimed. the other party has risen like the phoenix from its ashes (because previously it was written off as dead and buried)...
the voters run, back and forth, from one evil to the other....and then we all wonder why nothing changes.
we need another ross perot. someone who has the $ and the ability to get something going. someone who is an alternative, that people will vote for without feeling they're 'wasting a vote'.

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Danzig

that's the thing...one party loses, their imminent death as a viable party is proclaimed. the other party has risen like the phoenix from its ashes (because previously it was written off as dead and buried)...
the voters run, back and forth, from one evil to the other....and then we all wonder why nothing changes.
we need another ross perot. someone who has the $ and the ability to get something going. someone who is an alternative, that people will vote for without feeling they're 'wasting a vote'.

Ross is touchy with me, 41 was a great man and Ross was the problem there.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Ross is touchy with me, 41 was a great man and Ross was the problem there.

just using him as an example of a third party candidate getting some real attention.

[Clip-Clop]

I'm going mountain biking all this typing has made me sad this morning.