By trying to give away $10.4 billion in taxpayers' money as cost-of-living-adjustments to 250,000 state retirees -- including public school teachers and politicians -- the Pennsylvania House is giving voodoo economics a bad name.Theft by majority voting.
Even though the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System are severely underfunded -- combined roughly $10 billion short just to pay current obligations -- a bill with 155 co-sponsors would double the taxpayers' burden.
Pensions would be jacked up for retired teacher union members and disgraced former state politicians such as Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver Falls, and state Sen. Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona.
COLA proponents believe any pension surplus (such as in 2002 when legislator pensions shot up by 50 percent and teacher pensions by 25 percent) belong to members.
But deficits (such as the current mess) belong to the taxpayers, says Richard C. Dreyfuss, former director of compensation and benefits at Hershey Foods and a senior fellow at The Commonwealth Foundation, a public policy think tank in Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania voters outraged by the 2005 pay-jacking scandal drove many legislators into early retirement. This pension-jacking could and should force out at least 155 more -- with no COLA for their very generous pensions.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Pennsylvania Public Pension Scam
Pittsburgh Review Tribune reports: