I Deserve a Pension for Nothing

It is getting to be budget time once again, at least in New York, and the political ads stating how this politician has done something to hurt that group is starting up.  And as you can guess it really irks me to no end!



So apparently the governor has come up with a budget that increases spending for education yet doesn't increase taxes.  If you don't live in New York and haven't been subjected to the onslaught of ads you aren't aware that he did this but making cuts to things like pension plans for the state workers.  Let me make a point about that before I go any further, these employees are union employees so there were negotiations with the union and the changes were approved by the members.  Now obviously, this isn't the only cut that was made but this is the one they are really pushing.  The ad states that the governor's proposed budget will cut the pension of a whole bunch of public service employees by 40%.  That sounds like a lot but let's take into account that these pensions are completely free to the employee, they contribute nothing.


I don't feel they have anything to complain about!  In the private sector you are lucky if you find an employer that offers this.  My previous employer did offer some kind of free benefit, it was something like 1% of your annual salary and it was scheduled to end this year.  Was I complaining?  Yes, to a point.  I worked for a not-for-profit healthcare organization which means that a majority of it's funding came from Medicare and Medicaid.  With all of the struggles that the government (at all levels) have had in regards to budgets, healthcare cuts were pretty big.  So the only way that was where I stopped.  I could have paid more taxes just to be able to continue to receive that free pension or put money in directly.  Seemed to me like a pretty simple choice there.


Yet these people are complaining about basically the same thing.  Why do they deserve something that no one else is getting?  And where do they think this money is coming from?  I just find it so annoying that you see these ads and they don't tell the whole story.  They are only stating that their pension is being cut.  They don't even state that the governor's proposed budget is going to increase spending on our children's education.  They are only concerned about themselves but in a few years they will be the ones complaining that the state colleges are so expensive when their children are ready for it.