Rahm and the CPS cuts (Chicago: 2014, how much, gated)

[jonnynonos]

It's just the same old story. Public employees want more, taxpayers don't want to pay. Given the underlying dynamics this is all its ever going to be.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

You don't know much about pensions, do you? Pensions are about 30% of total payroll cost. If someone works from 25 to 55, and then you're going to continue to pay them (with inflation adjustments) from 55 to 95, you're going to need a *lot* of money.

Our public sector is one of the most bloated in the world. Rahm is moving in the right direction. There are probably 140,000 people employed by the city of Chicago, the suburbs, the state government operating within the Chicago area, and various private contractors doing business with these governments who do nothing useful or who do actual damage. Well, I guess 1% of them is a start...

I know a fair bit about pensions.

Just like you know quite a bit about strip clubs.

"Doing nothing useful"--I could say much the same thing about "financial advisors".

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by MassVt

I know a fair bit about pensions.

Just like you know quite a bit about strip clubs.

"Doing nothing useful"--I could say much the same thing about "financial advisors".

LOL. A good financial adviser is about the most useful thing in the world.

[bella84]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

It's just the same old story. Public employees want more, taxpayers don't want to pay. Given the underlying dynamics this is all its ever going to be.

Except this isn't really about public employees wanting more. This is about the fact that CPS didn't make good on payments for quite some time. Lawmakers haven't helped the situation any either. The public employees just want CPS to make their legally-obligated payments using fiscally-responsible funding methods and/or they want lawmakers to adequately reform the system. The public employees are really just stuck in the middle of a mess right now.

Read the article I linked in my last post for more information.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

LOL. A good financial adviser is about the most useful thing in the world.

Yes, a financial advisor is quite useful when you're hospitalized, and on a ventilator in the ICU. I'm sure I'll ask a finance guy about appropriate medications and treatment options to keep me alive.

Engineering, Pharmacy, Science in general, anything requiring sophisticated math, a helpful guidance counselor, legal advice, a good electrician or plumber, a teacher who can reach children and teens and impart some wisdom--the list is endless.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Yes, a financial advisor is quite useful when you're hospitalized, and on a ventilator in the ICU. I'm sure I'll ask a finance guy about appropriate medications and treatment options to keep me alive.

Engineering, Pharmacy, Science in general, anything requiring sophisticated math, a helpful guidance counselor, legal advice, a good electrician or plumber, a teacher who can reach children and teens and impart some wisdom--the list is endless.

Well, finance does require a degree of sophisticated math. A financial adviser is generally someone who tries to help prepare you save for retirement, paying for your kids college etc.

The people generally derided as not contributing much to society are more hedge fund types.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by bella84

Except this isn't really about public employees wanting more. This is about the fact that CPS didn't make good on payments for quite some time. Lawmakers haven't helped the situation any either. The public employees just want CPS to make their legally-obligated payments using fiscally-responsible funding methods and/or they want lawmakers to adequately reform the system. The public employees are really just stuck in the middle of a mess right now.

Read the article I linked in my last post for more information.

I read both the first one and yours. Then a couple others. I'll tell you one discrepancy I found: according to one article it is actually the city that puts the 9% per check in--or apparently 7%, while the teachers pay 2%. Reading between the lines.

Rahm wants them to pay the whole thing. Union doesn't. Rahm wants layoffs. Union doesn't.

Yadda yadda yadda.

[bella84]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

I read both the first one and yours. Then a couple others. I'll tell you one discrepancy I found: according to one article it is actually the city that puts the 9% per check in--or apparently 7%, while the teachers pay 2%. Reading between the lines.

That is true, but that's really a benefits conversation. CPS still pays additional money into the pension fund, per law. The 7% is not a legal requirement but rather a benefit negotiated with the union.

[pete6032]

Originally Posted by bella84

Here is an old article with a pretty good explanation of how the problem began and why it is still a problem today: Set the record straight on teachers pension fund problems | Catalyst Chicago

So do we know what percentage the pension system is funded at now? I'm shocked that it was funded 100% as little as 15 years ago.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by MassVt

I know a fair bit about pensions.

Just like you know quite a bit about strip clubs.

"Doing nothing useful"--I could say much the same thing about "financial advisors".

I'll take you at your word. Please refer to the following article I wrote in the Retirement Management Journal: https://larrysiegeldotorg.files.word...015_06_231.pdf

If you disagree materially with anything I've said (and there's a lot there to disagree with), please PM me.

I only know about strip clubs from the point of view of a customer. I have worked in the investment management field for 34 years.

Many public employees are extremely useful, for example if you're in a fire, or if you have a kid in school. Even though I lean libertarian, I would never suggest that you shouldn't have a government. But I live in Chicago, where abuse of the public treasury by highly and lowly placed public employees is too well known to repeat here. I'm willing to bet we could get rid of a third of them without losing any productivity, and if we choose the third carefully, we'd get rid of the obstructionists and morale destroyers and we'd all be better off.

There is nothing worse than a bad financial advisor (except possibly a bad doctor or lawyer) and nothing better than a good one.