Reply #23: I was a Fed from 1969 to 1986 and permanant under the old retirement

[PufPuf23]

system from 1973 to January 1986, but resigned and cashed out in 1986. There are Feds that were offered and took pre-mature retirement (pre-age 55 or 50, if LE or fireman) at full scale and continued health plus on-call consultant opportunities. I live in the town where I started and there are people that are older than me that have retired after spending their entire career here in technical series (hired in 1970s under old Fed retirement system) despite the fact they had BS degrees where they were qualified for professional/management positions. I can laugh at myself as I was the professional manager that hired them in my late 20s post university and now live again in my home town 30 years past.

I was given leave from my tech series to go to University age 21 (and had a detailed by agency PT Fed Job at the Land Grant University associated Fed Research Station). I had started the Feds at 16 to rebel from my Dad (to avoid another summer rock crushing, logging road building, and alfalfa/cows to be a fuck'n piss fir willy) under Nixon's Youth Opportuntity Corp. I even took a cut in pay from $2.00 to $1.65 an hour and traded 6 day 10 hour day weeks for 5 day and 5 AM to 6 PM for 6 AM to 2:30 PM.

Ironic to me when I was my Dad's Executor I had his financials. Dad paid members of the Operating Engineer's (Heavy Equipment Operators) Union (he was a member and that is where my family had health insurance including when I was at University) $3.50 an hour plus 1.5 OT and other laborers (like me) $2.00/hour wo/benefits but OT in 1965-1969. I was under my Dad's Union Health Care but also techically an OSHA violation. My Dad had other businesses but health care was from the Union and he was faithful and an FDR Democrat that turned in old age Reagan Democrat (he turned 70 in 1980 and had same hair style as Reagan and liked to argue with me and thought Cal a hippy school).

I despise Reagan even though he was only a stupid fool and tool. He was Governator when I started at Cal as an undergrad but my diploma is signed by Jerry Brown. The Fed agency I worked for sent me to Grad school as a GS-9 and I had to sign a contract regarding term of employment. I stated my plans to resign during the Reagan Administration that made a mockery of law and essentially gave away public assets. I set quit date on the contract date regarding post-grad paid education paid for while on professional grade, salary, and benefits. I got an analysis from CSC or OPM (don't recall name of agency then) that said wise to cashout because of my long time to age 55 retirement relative to age accumulation. I earned a Cal MBA with that retirement, a $5000 student loan to buy my first pc and software, and some consulting where I could earn in a weekend for investment banks that I did in a month as a Fed (with a dying and unfortunate skill that played on my innocence and awe in the famous people I was working with as a seeing-eye dog).

My Dad was an 8th grade grad in an extremely rural tiny town in Indian country. I live there now. I went to 1/2 of 1st grade back in 50s in the same two-room elementary that may Dad graduated 8th grade in 1925 before I was farmed out to relatives or boarding schools in the SF Bay Area 59-70.

Aside: How many at DU are aware of Sierra-Pacific Industries and Red Emmerson? Hint: He is the 2nd largest private landowner in USA to Ted Turner but IMHbutinformedO would have gone bankrupt in the 1980s if not for Reagan.

Aside: How many Indians at DU want to discuss the Cobell vs Salazar settlement?


Edit: I never paid into Social Security the entire time I was a Fed because I was in old retirement system.