We need an FDIC-style program that guarantees public employee pensions.

[FLAprogressive]

Watching NBC Nightly News, and seeing these people getting their pensions THAT THEY FUCKING EARNED cut due to city bankruptcy makes me sick.....it's all the idiot politicians' fault. I think we need a national, FDIC-style program that guarantees public workers' pensions in the event of politician mismanagement.

K&R if you agree.

[my2sense]

1. +1000

[badhair77]

2. absolutely

[Cool Logic]

3. What about us low-lifes who are not public employees?

[PoliticAverse]

7. There's the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation...

http://www.pbgc.gov/

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Which often does not come close to covering the full value of the pension

[badtoworse]

4. How would you pay for it and who would you trust to guarantee it?

The federal government? LOL. Look at what they did with SS and Medicare.

[MichiganVote]

5. K&R

[PoliticAverse]

6. There's the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation...

http://www.pbgc.gov/

It covers private company pensions - you could extend it to public pensions.

The problem with many municipalities is that they have unfunded or vastly underfunded pension plans.

You could start by making a law that any public worker pension plans must be fully funded.

[FLAprogressive]

8. +1

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. The PBGC is a bad joke

Pensioners are often forced to accept a small fragment of what they are owed.

[libodem]

9. kick

[Donnachaidh]

10. we need independant investigations into where ALL of this money has gone

Funny, isn't it - how suddenly, after decades of people paying into pensions - there is suddenly no money?

We know the federal government has been using SS like a petty cash drawer. I'll bet the local governments have been doing the same with the other pension funds.

[badtoworse]

11. It's more likely that the state and local governments never funded the plans

The situation is changing, but historically, most public employees were not required to pay into their pension plans. That's my understanding, at least.

The likely answer to you question is that the money was never there.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. The reason one does not exist is that the pensions were secured by the power to tax

and the pensions are first in line at the pay window. That of course has changed