I wish I was at a point in my life where I was ready and financially able to retire, but I am not, and boy is it going to cost me! I have been paying 3.9% of my salary into my retirement benefits fund, now I will pay 6.9% into a fund that is not guaranteed to be there when I retire (you see you keep reading that we will pay 3%, but it is an increase of 3%)! Thank you Andy Dillon. New teachers will pay 9% of their salary into some hybrid fund, wow that will entice new teachers to stay in Michigan! Our senators and representatives by the way earn $79,650 a year and have a $12,000 expense account (they are the second highest paid in the country)! I am pretty sure they pay nothing for their health care benefits, and after only six years on the job retain these health care benefits for life! The really funny thing is the headline of the editorial in the Free Press about the passage of the early retirement plan is "State lawmakers show some guts at last" HA! When are we all going to wake up and smell the coffee? Politicians have one interest, themselves. They want to keep their job because it is a very nice job to have, or they want to put themselves into a position to run for a better and higher paying political job. If there are politicians out there who really feel they are involved in this process to make life better for people like me, and are not looking to further their career, who are they, and why aren't they making some noise? Representing the people was never meant to be a career, but to have "good" people with something to offer "at a particular time" step up to the plate and get positive things done. How did we get to where we are today? Better question, what are we going to do? The fighting and name calling is not helping me, is it helping you?
Rosemary
Rosemary, politicians are no different than me or you. Of Course they want a career, don't you? People who wish to be our representatives, do so with good intentions. At least for most of them. It is a hard job. They can't please everyone. And I agree with you that some of our representatives are just in it for the bucks. Shame on us. Our representatives i.e. politicians are not there to make life better for you or me as individuals. It is our hope that they can make life better for the whole of us. And that might not be better for you and me as individuals. Is our education system in need of an overhaul? You have to know that we have a very diverse population that has many different views on how to not only educate children but how to raise them too. Other countries do not have this problem. They are more homogeneous which makes it much easier to control, educate or whatever doctrine they wish to impose. We don't have those constraints. On the other hand we have a continual input of ideas that are new and different. Like your brain on LSD. I know your primary concern is education. And that is very important but politicians have to deal with a lot of issues. Education being just one of them, a very important issue none the less. I'm sure you and I agree that parental involvement is the most important criteria to the success of a student. Not withstanding basic ability. As far as budgets and expensives I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteOur roads are crumbling, bridges falling and it seems the transportation dept. is only concerned about 'Round A Bouts' go figure. So you are right to be concerned about politicians only looking out for their own ass but this is our problem
You make some valid points, and I guess I was just venting. I am, however, still very pissed off that I will be paying 6.9% of my salary into a benefits fund that is not guaranteed to return me anything. This retirement incentive is a short term fix to a problem we've had for a very long time and the politicians use us educators as pawns in their game, and I don't like it.
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