Pension

As the government continues to hand out money to combat the effects of the virus, many states are asking for funds to pay state employees and this is a reasonable request. Some states are asking for funds to pay for pensions and this is not reasonable. Almost all state, county and municipal pensions are underfunded, that is, they are going broke. Take for example the MN state teachers retirement which is billions of dollars underfunded. The teachers negotiated in good faith with the school board and ended up with a comfortable pension. In MN. a single teacher earning $60,000 or $5,000 per month takes home $3,220. If he retires at age 62 his take home pay including social society will $3,643. He makes $5,000 per year more retired than he was making working. The pension was padded to avoid giving raises while he was working. He needed this money when he was a young father with kids and mortgage not at retirement when the house is paid and the kids are grown. One way to address this problem is to say that future retirees will not receive a COLA and that money could be used to offer higher starting pay. In 10 years this would be reviewed.