My debate with Neil Cavuto regarding California Public Sector Union Pensions

[hfojvt]

19. well you are very brave, walking into the lion's den

I would not want to see, or hear, myself on TV. There are videos of me on youtube that I have not had the courage to watch.

I would have liked to hear more facts. How much do these workers get paid? What is the deal on their pensions? How many people are collecting pensions? Why are pension expenses taking so much of the budget?

The answers you seemed to offer - higher taxes (and you did not stress WHO would pay the higher taxes - people like Cavuto, not people like me) and taking away sports.

I think he came out ahead there, since you did not finish with who would be paying the higher taxes and how a rich sports team owner benefits from huge public subsidies (and tax breaks). It also seemed like you were talking over him.

I work for a city myself, and the pay and benefits are pretty good. I am not sure if the pension is worth the paper it is printed on, although some parts of it certainly do not seem fair (to me). Take my ex-boss (please). He worked for about ten years and retired. He only paid in to the pension for 9 years (because the first year was pension free after that a required 4% contribution is taken out of your pay). My ten year anniversary is this August. Because I opted to buy back that first year, I have paid in to the pension for ten years. If I am lucky I can retire in another five years at a much reduced pension.

It seems to me that he is getting better benefits than I am without having to pay in as much. How is that fair? Further, he gets another benefit as well in that if his spouse outlives him, she gets some retirement pay as well, although she paid nothing in.

I tend to like 401k's because a) they are better than nothing and b) they are portable. I do think there needs to be a non-market option for the 401K, like t-bills or even CDs, and I did not see such an option when I had a 401K. But now CD rates are brutally low anyway.