Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Joad
Typical Republican strategy.
It's what Jeb Bush did as soon as he got to be Governor in Florida.
The State Pension system was in great shape when he came in, but Jeb hired a "consultant" to do a "study" which found it to be "overfunded".
So he cut the amount that the state contributed to the fund way down.
At the same time he gave big tax cuts that benefited the rich.
Low and behold a few years down the road the pension system was then found to be "underfunded" and the Republicans have been using that as an excuse to chip away at benefits. The first step was to make the employees contribute 3%. Step two was to eliminate the 3% COLA for anyone hired after 2011. Then they raised the number of years required for vesting from 6 to 8. All the while putting on a full court press to force new hires into a 401K type system. And now they are looking at more ways to "save" money on the pension system.
Slick.
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Exactly. Defund, disinvest then point to the failure caused by these actions as unpreventable. "It just doesn't work." Of course things fail when you refuse to fund them. DUH! Your car WILL fail to run if you refuse to put gas in it. It's the same principle. This trick has worked well for the GOP for over three decades, now.
What they gamble on is this;
"Why should
they get a pension when I don't?"
(The "they" can be anyone and you can substitute "pension" with a number of things. Overtime pay, paid time off, etc., etc.........)
The real question, of course, should be "Why don't I get ____? You do it for them!"
Ah, but that is a dangerous line of thinking, isn't it?
Dave