For example, Republicans say they don’t want to pass today's
debt down to our kids, so they want to reform our social safety net programs. Sounds good, admirable, but it’s not true.
Take for example defunding Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid. That will mean those under 55 will have to re-fund
those programs to stave off rising poverty for seniors. After 30 years of
falling incomes, does anybody really think our kids will be able to put away
enough in retirement to make up for those cuts?
Get serious.
Statewide, we’re now getting that same con with respect to raising the “minimum
retirement age for public employees by two years under a bill proposed by a
state lawmaker who said the change would reflect increasing life spans and
later retirement ages in general while possibly strengthening the pension system."
WSJ: Under a bill (that would) affect only people who are under 40, circulated by Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, the minimum age would rise to 57. For police and firefighters, it would increase two years to 52.
See, our kids will see these cuts in their ability to retire,
not us. How convenient. Notice a pattern? Republicans are stripping our kids of retirement
security, not to mention their ability to retire at all.
Stroebel chose to ignore the recommendation to study the unintended
consequences of making that change.
The state Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) memo also emphasized an actuarial study was needed to know how the change would affect the complex retirement system. For example, adjusting the retirement age could increase costs for taxpayers because experienced workers would stay on the payroll longer. Or it could mean injured or ill employees would continue working, leading to higher costs in disability claims, especially among police and firefighters. "(It also) could degrade the overall policy aim of maintaining public safety at a high level," the department memo said.
Hey, Republicans are doing this for our kids. They sure are.
No comments:
Post a Comment