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The Public Policy
Teacher Pension Bombs
Teachers’ pension plans are the biggest joke in the investment world, premised on returns even a Ponzi schemer would shy away from.
California taxpayers have almost become immune to stories about the high cost of generous defined-benefit pensions, employer-subsidized healthcare plans, job protections and degree- and seniority-based pay scales struck by the state, school districts, and affiliates of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers. Not even the fact that 3,090 of its retired teachers are earning more than $100,000 a year in annuity payments causes a stir.
But they are getting riled up — and learning about such concepts as internal rate of return and special situation fund — thanks to the notoriously underfunded California State Teachers Retirement System. Over the past four decades, CalSTRS has fueled these pension deals by offering rates of return on its portfolio that were way too optimistic given the historic volatility of the stock and bond markets. Even now, CalSTRS assumes that its portfolio will increase in value by eight percent a year, three points higher than the 20-year compound annual growth rate for the S&P 500 stock index. To meet those return rates, CalSTRS has spent the past three decades pouring money into an array of hedge fund and other risky investments, including purchasing minority stakes in private-equity firms and real estate deals that haven’t exactly panned out.
But these days, CalSTRS can no longer keep up the ruse. Thanks to an (official) $23 billion pension deficit, billions more in investment losses (including $43 billion in the 2008-2009 year alone), and embarrassing reports about its unrealistic investment expectations, it is preparing to reduce its expected annual rate of return to a barely less-inflated 7.5 percent. The state government and districts will have pony up $5 billion more a year just to meet the growing payouts to the pension’s dependents. By the way, CalSTRS’ request comes just as news came out that it paid $1 million in bonuses to its top officials — including $116,604 to its chief investment officer.
But this is only the start of the pain. If CalSTRS adjusted its investment growth to reality — including admitting that the past growth rates for its investments were inflated — taxpayers would face a $97 billion pension deficit, according to Manhattan Institute scholar Josh Barro and University of Arkansas graduate student Stuart Buck in a study released earlier this year. For once-and-future governor Jerry Brown, it will mean a tough conversation with the state NEA and AFT affiliates that supported his successful effort against former eBay boss Meg Whitman to return to the office he last held some three decades ago.
California isn’t the only state dealing with the consequences of overly optimistic investment assumptions and bungled investments (along with an overly lavish traditional teacher compensation system) now coming home to roost. States are just beginning to reckon with the overly burdensome costs of defined-benefit public pensions for teachers and other civil servants, (along with at least $365 billion in unfunded retiree health costs).
But even those stated deficits don’t reveal the full burden. Thanks to inflated growth rates, unrealized losses, and methods of valuing assets that wouldn’t even be used by private sector pensions, the full cost of teacher pensions are just being understood. This will result in an end to the grand bargain struck by states and the NEA and AFT that has made teaching the best-compensated public sector profession.
Certainly the attention these days is on what will happen to President Barack Obama’s school reform efforts (including his effort to pour more money into the Race to the Top initiative to expand charter schools and improve the quality of America’s teaching corps). The ascent of Minnesota Congressman John Kline — a critic of Obama’s initiatives — gives some comfort to NEA and AFT and their allies among suburban school districts and traditional public education. But the victory of reform-minded Republican governors likely means that the nation’s school reform movement will continue to win influence over the course of federal, state. and local education policy.
An even more-heated battle has come in the last year as state governments, fitfully emerging from the last decade’s economic downturn and no longer able to count on more than $100 billion in federal bailouts, turn their attention to school budgets that increased by 2.3 percent during the recession. This means dealing with the heavy pension and healthcare deficits (fueled by the upcoming retirements of Baby Boomers, who make up 36 percent of all teachers) that are driving up costs — and revamping traditional teacher compensation, which have proven both costly and ineffective in either improving student achievement or teacher quality. States such as New York, Vermont and New Jersey — where Governor Chris Christie successfully forced Garden State teachers to pay more for their healthcare costs — have made their teacher benefits (slightly) less lucrative.
But it is the overly inflated investment growth models used to justify the hefty payouts (and help state governments strike these deals without actually bearing the actual costs on their ledgers) that will force states to take more drastic action.
In Illinois, the state’s infamous teacher pension — already renowned as one of the nation’s most-underfunded thanks to a $44 billion pension deficit — lost $4 billion in 2008-2009 thanks in part to its array of derivatives and other alternative investments. The portfolio and strategies, already considered the nation’s fourth-riskiest according to Pensions and Investments, are so arcane that one investment guru thought it had belonged to a hedge fund.
Another high-flyer is the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, whose investment portfolio declined by 13 percent in 2008-2009 before recovering some lost ground. It has deferred $16 billion in investment losses in the hopes that the investments will recover enough so it can fulfill the 8 percent annual rate of return it continues to promise in vain. Meanwhile in New York City, the teachers’ pension there continues to maintain that its portfolio will earn 8 percent a year even after it lost 25 percent of its value.
One problem lies with loose standards for accounting for risk and rates of return. Teacher pensions should take a conservative approach to investments growth and liabilities, basing rates of return on what would be gotten if funds were invested in corporate bonds. Instead, they inflate their rates of return, and then use those same numbers to aggressively discount the present cost of their annuity payouts. As a result, pensions are overstating the actual value of their portfolios while understating their deficits.
The other problem lies with the very pension deals struck by states, districts, and teachers unions in the first place. Since the 1960s, annuity payments have gotten sweeter as teachers have been allowed to retire at ages younger than those allowed in the private sector. A Missouri teacher can technically retire as early as age 52 so long as her combined age and time of employment totals 80 years, then double-dip, going back to work and collecting two checks at once.
Many state governments refused to devote enough of their budgets to pay for the them and also allowed teachers to pay less into them. Given the growing liabilities and the lack of contributions to pay for them, pensions began overpromising high rates of growth. To meet those rates — and to take advantage of the bull markets of the past three decades — pensions began pursuing more complex investment deals to make up the costs. But the collapse of the last bull market, along with the ever-growing number of Baby Boomer retirees, has made recovery more difficult.
This pressure, along with the fact that at least four states will run out of funds to pay their full array of pensions by 2019, may force officials to finally end the decades of deal-making they have done with the NEA and AFT.
About the Author
RiShawn Biddle the editor of Dropout Nation , is co-author of A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era. He can be followed at Twitter.com/dropoutnation.
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Eric Cartman| 11.12.10 @ 6:56AM
I wonder if this is the kind of innovation and imaginative solutions some Liberal Aholes talk about when they say California will be just fine? I mean, it's pretty damn innovative imagining an 8% ROI when you are losing money year over year! Makes ya wonder what they included in their calculations to arrive at that. Maybe they included the anticipated profits of the state's recycling programs or their green energy start-ups! Oh, I know! They included the anticipated taxes from all the doctors and engineers that their schools will graduate! But then discounted all the gang-bangers and illegal aliens baby machines that don't make it past 8th grade and suck up all the taxes through incarceration and welfare benefits. Then again, doctors will soon be working for the state anyway, so there is that. And I don't know too many engineers who want to stay around paying for Liberal Ahole programs just because the weather is nice. And imagine the states that are doing the same thing where the weather sucks? What are they including in their ROIs.
Sure make ya wonder, don't it?
SuQ| 11.12.10 @ 12:51PM
The correct quote is: figures don't lie, but liars figure.
Hello| 11.12.10 @ 6:27PM
Hi
Eric Cartman| 11.13.10 @ 4:29PM
Yo! What up?
DG| 11.12.10 @ 6:17PM
You mention engineers, and it reminded me that when my son graduated from Stanford with a degree in Chemical Engineering, he received letters from the State of California for three years in a row threatening him because he did not pay income taxes to the state in any of those years. Now, the fact that he no longer LIVED in California seemed irrelevant, the fact the he did not WORK in California didn't matter, and the fact that he wasn't working AT ALL because he was in grad school fulltime didn't matter. He took the engineering licensing exam in California while he was still a student there, so they ASSUMED he was working there and tried to get him to pay taxes on income he SHOULD have been earning there. This may sound dumb, but it was a real hassle for us to get the State of California to stop harassing him for this.
Eric Cartman| 11.13.10 @ 12:43PM
Ya have to admit, DG, it's pretty innovative and imaginative! They imagined your son had a job and innovated a tax bill for him! By this count, I guess I owe them some bucks, too. I lived in Capistrano with mt brother for a couple of years and attended UCSD for a semester back in the 80s. I used to bum around and surf off of Doheny Beach, so there will probably be a beach bumming/surfing charge. I hope they give me a break on the interest and penalties.
Eric Cartman| 11.13.10 @ 1:03PM
Ya know, DG, I've been invited to take some classes at Stanford next summer (Management Science cert in Investment Science). I wanted to attend on campus for a semester. Hmmmm. Looks like it's online for me! Do they tax electrons?
Curtis Rasmussen| 11.12.10 @ 6:54PM
It was difficult to manage a budget when the wife bought into the CALSTRS and Social Security lies that a pot of gold awaits us at the end of the rainbow (retirement). Luckily, I proved to her that it's just a mirage, you can see the pot but you never touch it no matter how hard you run.
John| 11.12.10 @ 7:05AM
Numbers don't lie, but liars number!
McBain| 11.12.10 @ 7:24AM
All these big unions have staff who are experts in pensions and actuarial science etc. so don't anyone try to tell me they were duped or ask for pity. They signed these agreements knowing full well that the pensions could not be paid and hoping the public would be taxed more to make up the shortfall. Don't let it happen California.
Shamus| 11.13.10 @ 10:12AM
Give the pension funds the worthless mortgages that were bought by the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis. That will make them fully funded and provide a way to dispose of toxic assets. If union members complain, give them title to a rotting house.
RPG| 11.15.10 @ 6:53PM
That would work. They would have to pay property and school taxes.
Douglas M Dillon | 11.12.10 @ 7:59AM
Ratios provide perspective. Let's see, that 97B$ in the hole for a population of 36M means roughly $3,000/person. That's pretty bad, but its not unimagninably high.
When journalists start effectively using ratios to show the actual importance of a numerical item I'll know they are trying to educate rather than just scare people.
ds80| 11.12.10 @ 8:42AM
Yes, those 550,000 infants (born per year, California, 2008 statistic) each enter the world waving $3,000 in cash.
Chalkdust| 11.12.10 @ 9:19AM
If you have two brain cells still sparking together, I suggest you be afraid, very afraid. Because if you make the average citizen to fork over $3,000/yr. to pay for someones lucrative pension, their will be blood.
Paul G.| 11.12.10 @ 1:46PM
Population and "taxpayer" are two wildly differing numbers and that divide is growing. It will be more like 25k per taxpayer.
Andrew B| 11.12.10 @ 8:10AM
Why all the worry? The state pension funds--for teachers, cops, dog catchers, etc.--will just go to the Federal Government for a bail-out. No problem! And suckers like me, who live 3000 miles from California, will get to dig a little deeper and foot the bill.
How about this: I cash in my 401K and spend it all on scratch-off lottery tickets. If I win, I'm set. If I lose, the taxpayers of California reimburse me for my expenditures. Seems fair, no?
DG| 11.12.10 @ 6:22PM
Andrew, you might want to think seriously about that plan to cash in the 401K. If the Dems in Congress have their way, they will be seizing ALL of our 401Ks to fund union pensions. Do you doubt this? They are already having hearings on the subject. Venezuela already did this, and we know Obama just LOVES Hugo Chavez. The current administration believes it is unfair that some Americans sacrifice and put money into 401K accounts while they are working so they can have a more comfortable retirement. They don't think anyone should have a more comfortable retirement than anyone else. Well, except for politicians. And union members. And Federal employees. So they are very interested in taking away the money currently residing in private pension plans and 401Ks in order to redistribute it "more fairly."
Redstateboy| 11.12.10 @ 8:47AM
Lord! It wouldn't hurt so much if we were at least getting a good product!!! Kids are coming out of the Schools blooming idiots! They don't know American or World History, they can't write properly and Math skills? Paaleease.. How did we allow Liber-ulism to destroy our country like this?!!?
stevor | 11.12.10 @ 4:56PM
Kids who want to learn will learn. Unfortunately, the Democrat entitlement mentality has gotten too many to figure they don't need to learn because Obummer and Mommy will take care of me.
I have over 20 years experience teaching math and math books are my pet peeve. That's why I wrote my own book and created a web site to make learning math more fun.
william drollinger | 11.14.10 @ 7:01AM
Please allow me to purchase a copy of your math book. I have always thought that math books were the poorest among textbooks.
Doug| 11.12.10 @ 6:28PM
The problem has always been that we aren't paying the teachers enough. Just ask California.
If only you double their salaries, then they promise to finally turn out smart grads. Until then, you're getting what you're getting. Got it?
ds80| 11.13.10 @ 1:50PM
Kids are coming out of the Schools blooming idiots!
Exhibit #1 (scroll up): Douglas M. Dillon.
jstwndring| 11.16.10 @ 2:15AM
This is why I always laugh at my left-leaning friends who point to our military budget as being too large. Of course, as I explain to them, what we get for our defense budget is the finest military the world has ever seen. What do we get for our educational expenditure? One of the worst education systems in the developed world. Now I ask, which expenditure is giving our nation a better return on investment?
Todd| 11.12.10 @ 8:52AM
Just to provide a little bit of contrast, my father is a retired California teacher, and his monthly pension is $1700, which is woefully short of being lucrative.
Steve A| 11.12.10 @ 10:42AM
Yeah Todd, What a shame. sounds like he is getting robbed. After all, look at all of those private sector jobs with 3 months vacation, every conceivable holiday paid & $1700 pensions out there... Get a grip.
cuban pete| 11.12.10 @ 11:39AM
You are a hard but truthful man Steve A.
Sheila| 11.12.10 @ 11:48AM
Thank you, Steve A, for your spot on response to Todd. I'm sooo tired of everyone thinking they're the example that disproves the rule, that their hard-working maid/nanny/gardener deserves amnesty, and that teachers are poorly-paid martyrs deserving of our sympathy. Dressing up the truth in pretty language to make it more palatable is yet another means of shying away from making those hard decisions necessary - which is why I have no faith they'll ever be made. Decline and fall.
DG| 11.12.10 @ 6:29PM
My other question for Todd is "How OLD is your father?" I have a neighbor who is a retired California schoolteacher. She retired after 30 years, and was making a VERY good salary, especially for approximately 8 months of work (not only summer vacation, but you know they get 4 weeks of vacation DURING the school year too). She gets pension payments of almost $5,000 per month, and that doesn't include Social Security because she's not OLD enough for Social Security. After she retired and took her pension, she left California and is now working in our state as a teacher making around $85,000 per year. So she has her California pension, plus her salary here, plus when the time comes, she'll get Social Security. I don't feel very sorry for California teachers.
Troy| 11.12.10 @ 12:36PM
Hmmm, $1700/month, that's about $800 bi-weekly, or, for a full time job $10/hr.
Avg California teacher salary is (roughly) $57,000.
$57,000/.75 year = $76,000/year
$76,000/2000 hrs (rough average of hrs per year for a full time job) =$38/hr
$10/hr/$38/hr ~= 1/4 pay.
We cannot assume incompetence on the part of any one teacher, just infer it on the part of the educational system based on data, so Todd's dad might deserve his pension.
Does someone else know what a fair pension is?
Steve A| 11.12.10 @ 1:19PM
A fair pension is defined as such: A pension generated from work you perform, over the lifetime of your employment, with $$ invested from your employer, with a reasonable return on investment, that is not subsidized, involuntarily, by other members of society, that does not obliterate a state , federal or local budget. Just my humble opinion.
PS: Todd's Dad may very well deserve his pension for all I know, but I am SURE he has no reason to gripe about his ROI.
Lee T| 11.12.10 @ 2:56PM
Steve A - Todd's Dad doesn't collect Social Security like you or your Dad - granted, he did not pay the deduction, but he contributed at least as much as SS "participants" to his state pension. Not his fault they stole it.
And, he can't even collect survivor's benefits from his wife's SS if she pre-deceases him, like you or your Dad may.
Finally, while it is highly unlikely we as a nation will be bailing out CALSTRs, we sure will be paying for your Social Security checks until we fess up that we let the Congress steal it since 1965, and have to let you (and me) go under, if Social Security is what we rely upon. Until then, we have no gripe on ROI from SS either, do we?
Doug| 11.12.10 @ 6:44PM
Why must government always be in the middle of all of this? How about this for a retirement system: you're "given" X% of your salary for retirement, which YOU *must* invest on your own. If you go off and spend it on a Mexican vacation or a Lexus then you understand that YOU have just cost yourself some retirement cash. Bank it if investment decisions are too complex for you to make. Let the funds grow via compound interest over time, tax-free, and it's all yours. If you die, you can leave the funds to your survivors rather than have it all confiscated for some arcane reason, like you didn't live long enough to own your own money.
Gee, sounds a lot like "401(k)," doesn't it?
I don't demand that CALSTRS pay for my (private) retirement. Why the hell must I pay for theirs?
Texas Mom 2012| 11.12.10 @ 8:56AM
This exactly why some Dems keep returning to the idea of confiscating individual retirement accounts like IRAs and 401Ks. They plan to seize and then pay out a 'defined' amount later. They will use our savings to prop up these unsustainable union pensions. But if they try to do this, we will cash out, pay the penalty and leave the country. Or we will lock and load. This will pit the unions against the rest of America.... And make 2010 merely a wave versus the TEAnami of 2012!
Senor Mick| 11.12.10 @ 1:13PM
I haven't heard ANYTHING afrom ANY Dem about confiscating retirement assessts. The subject has come up before, but can anyone provide some EVIDENCE to these rumors?
Not that I have any problems with loading and locking, but...
dc| 11.12.10 @ 4:02PM
Jackass Mick--Rep. George Miller (guess the party-CA) introduced precisely such legislation during the Pelosi Congress. Google it, genius. And of course, it has already been done by the union socialists in Argentina--don't think for a minute that our own unionized socialists (AFSCME, etc.) weren't watching carefully.
DG| 11.12.10 @ 6:54PM
I believe Henry Waxman, also a loon from California, who is Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee has already held hearings on this topic on October 7th. One of Obama's key advisors recommends this approach:
"The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration."
So don't think we're just a bunch of right-wing loonies who don't know what we're talking about. Read for yourself!
http://www.carolinajournal.com.....ounts.html
Doug| 11.12.10 @ 6:54PM
Teresa Ghilarducci wrote a book advocating "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts" that would confiscated all 401(k) retirement funds and pay you a "guaranteed" payback on your money.
George Miller thinks it's a grand idea, blaming Wall Street for all that ails us.
Ms. Ghilarducci stated: The current retirement system “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities” because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.”
I.e., "we'll steal your money because it's the right thing to do."
Read it and weep: http://tinyurl.com/5wpjnb
Robdharana| 11.15.10 @ 1:46PM
I make $14 an hour and very much appreciate the tax break on my 401IK. Like most obscenely wealthy individuals, I use it to fund such fripperies as gas, rent, and the occasional Boric's cut & blow dry. If the Dems think November 2nd was bloody, hide and watch what happens if they steal our 401ks!
MikeD| 11.13.10 @ 12:31AM
I think the number is H.S. 4646. (Again, I'm old, so be patient.) The bill is very real, but the whole story is not being told here. It has been introduced several times over the past 4 to 6 years, but it has no sponsors and, with the landslide on election day, probably won't go anywhere. The 'Messiah's" little minions have been busily scurrying around with the cockroaches in the dark doing their best to destroy our Country.
That is NOT to say, however, that they won't try to sneak it, or something like it, through the lame duck session. That's why we have to watch them like hawks. I don't remember who wrote it in this 'stream', but I strongly agree: If these clowns don't get, there could easily be blood in the streets. The Second Amendment was specifically intended to protect the American people from their own government. Messrs. Obama, Reid, and Pelosi: Be very careful you do not wake a sleeping dragon you can't lie, cheat, or steal from. (Yes, I intentionally included Mizz Nancy in with the boys. She's certainly no lady!)
Emma| 11.13.10 @ 8:04AM
It's really getting tiresome that those who do not pay attention are so quick to shoot down those who do pay attention.....and the opening line is always something like, "Oh, yeah? Prove it, you loon!!"
Exactly the same response I got from my sister 2 1/2 years ago when I pointed out who and what obama was and what he would do to this country if he had the chance, based on his own words and the few facts available about him. (She doesn't talk to me any more.)
SSGT. Sherm| 11.12.10 @ 10:01AM
I left Cal 10 years ago and can tell you that the problem with the state is it is like a huge rental that no one cares about. The last time I was there, I visited a mall in San Jose and there was a huge sign stating that you had to lock your doors on all vehicles because of the terrible crime rate, which they mall could not control. It is a failed state.
Dave | 11.12.10 @ 10:53AM
From Barry's World Globe Hop to ... Governor Moonbeam's oncoming train wreck in California, "the buck (as 'ol Harry Truman once said) stops here." Well, maybe not literally. In the real world of governing - the buck usually stops with ... the taxpayer.
In politics, a good rule of thumb has always been: "when seeking the truth, follow the money." In California and the remaining 49 ... following the money often only leads you to where the sink hole is -- and how deep it runs.
The numbers ...
Dan Rather once wrote a book called -- The Camera Never Lies. True enough. And in the world of political payoffs and budget calculations -- neither do the final numbers. I realize it sounds skeptical, but I don't think even Stephen Hawking could make any these current numbers in (the former) Golden State blance out. At least not without a new pocket calculator and a 50 year supply of fresh batteries.
However ...
There may be a small glimmer of light. A smallish one. Let's just take a long, deep breath and see if this last election manages to grow some sturdy legs within the other 49. Hey, something positive could still happen. California? Well, I suspect Governor Moonbeam and company might want to check their batteries. I think they're about to expire here.
beep - beep - beep ...
KML| 11.12.10 @ 11:17AM
This is how these scumbag liberal politicans stay in power and keep the unions pouring membership dues into their re-election coffers. The politician and the union leaders agree to outlandish pension benefits that both parties know can never be successfully funded. After the deal is made, the union leaders tell their members about the wonderful benefits of being in the union, and how great the local liberal congressman is to guarantee these benefits. All the members have to do is make sure that liberal SOB stays in office. Then, before too long, the balance sheet shows serious underfunding, and then creative accounting is used to make everything look OK. Nothing to see here Mr. and Mrs. Union member, just please vote for that liberal politician who makes all of your pension dreams possible. The problem is, at this point, the union members are screwed because they have been convinced they can get something for nothing, and they have put their entire retirement future into the hands of the union and the government. The poor suckers, bless their hearts. Understand, American citizens who have put their faith in the federal government to deliver Social Security checks when they retire are in the same boat. For the politican who promised the moon, they are either not in office anymore, or they demagogue the taxpayers who do not believe tax dollars should be used to make good the outrageous deal the politician made with the union. The nasty little secret is now that Obama has a boot on the American economy, there is no way to make that deal good. Let's face it, there is no way to make the deal good anyway. Can you guess who will suffer the most? Yep, you guessed it: Mr. and Mrs. Union Member. The union member is being lied to just to keep the liberals in office and their union leaders fat and happy. What a mess. Maybe one day the people will realize not to put so much trust in government; in the meantime, the government will continue to create dependent liberal voters.
KML| 11.12.10 @ 11:23AM
In the above article, I meant to use an upper case "L" every time I used the word "liberal". Whoops.
MS| 11.12.10 @ 12:56PM
No worries KML. I read your post and you obviously understand this in a way that many Americans do not. Immigrants who fled from the result of economic disasters in their countries to come to the opportunity-driven USA also understand. Believe me those legal immigrants (like my husband and me) are praying for this country and it breaks our hearts that this is happening. We cannot believe that BO could even be elected in this country; during the campaign he was not centrist --he clearly said that he was a leftist if you listened carefully! Leftists are the same in all countries. They tell pretty lies and fools fall in-love with the lies. And they feed on the envy of the so-called poor, the greedy and the uneducated and uninformed. Envy is evil. It destroyed Cuba and is destroying Argentina and Venezuela. How sad that it should happen here. How sad that it has evolved so fast with barely us realizing it.
BackToBasics| 11.12.10 @ 5:36PM
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? - Proverbs 27:4
What you say is so true. I've heard it said that pride was the first sin. When Satan tempted Eve didn't he appeal to her sense of envy? He told her that she was missing out on something that God had; i.e. knowing good and evil. I think that this appeal is first towards is envy which is the precursor to pride. And when Satan fell, it was envy that caused it to happen; I think this description of Satan's "I will's" just before he fell is found in Isaiah 14 or near that chapter. Some say it was Satan's envy towards Adam and Eve's relationship with God that cause Satan to Fall. those who think this beleive that Satan did not fall until after Adam and Eve were created; Genesis 1:31 - ALL was good at the end of creation. I tend to hold this view.
I belive account in Genesis literally but even if you do not, there are some valuable lessons about human nature and God's nature and Satan's nature too, in these first 3 chapters of Genesis for sure.
And I've said it here before that one of the main tools for implementing a communist governemnt in a country is for corrupt officials to instill envy in the poor people towards those who are better off - not necessarily just envy against the very rich.
MS| 11.12.10 @ 12:48PM
This is brilliant. Thank you for your contribution. I'm Cuban born and my husband Argentinian born. By the grace of God, we came here with legal long awaited visas and we are now US citizens. We appreciate and love this country in a way that many Americans cannot fathom. Our pride and joy is that our son is a pure 100% American. We teach him Spanish but as a 2nd language. His primary role is to be an American. If he chooses to be in the armed forces or serve this great nation someday in any capacity, we will consider it a blessing from God. Everything that you say in your article above, is what our parents realized when taking us out of Latin America (think California to the power of a million). Sadly, the USA right now is at a crossroads --at a similar place that Argentina was 20-30 years ago; except that this country was founded on principles that our Latin American countries were not. If we, in the USA, return the country to those founding principles we can save this last great hope of mankind. God help us.
KGC| 11.12.10 @ 11:45AM
There is no winning scenario any longer for public education. At best, its scope and quality diminish over time to but a footnote in American history. At worst, it collapses completely and goes away, leaving parents to fend for their children either alone or band together with other similarly like-minded parents. It's grim. But then that's fruit of whistling pass the graveyard for so long.
Garry Owen| 11.12.10 @ 1:02PM
Thank goodness I retired from education in a state that is not controlled by teachers unions!
Nancy Hudak| 11.12.10 @ 2:01PM
Kindly remember that the pension "crisis" has been building for decades. It is not a liberal or conservative issue, nor a Democrat v. Republican one. States with collective bargaining, states without, states with strong unions, states without are all affected. Stop the blaming and figure out a solution.
CalMark| 11.12.10 @ 9:23PM
Sorry to burst your bubble--it's a DEMOCRAT issue.
Republicans have done stupid things, but it's the Democrats who are in bed with the Teachers' unions, accept the vast majority of these unions' political contributions, and continue to make promises nobody can keep.
Anyway, is anyone else getting tired of these "objective" people speaking down to us from their cloud-surrounded Thrones of Wisdom: "Listen here, silly peasants. We, the Wise and Objective Ones say, leave the poor Democrats alone. Now shut up and clean up their mess."
Rust Belt Robert| 11.13.10 @ 1:06AM
In PA it is bi-partisan. Play ball with the teacher's unions and you get a $2,000.00 contribution to your campaign kitty every time you run for the legislature. The teacher's union here is so flush that it has never seen fit to join the AFL-CIO.
Retired teachers often run for the legislature and sometimes get elected in heavily democratic districts. (Some of these voters are unbelievably dumb!)
They have the right to strike and usually do so at the end of their contracts. There are 501 school districts in PA and each one has a separate contract with it's teachers with different ending dates. These strikes are usually timed to cause the most inconvenience to the parents. During football season or near the Holidays. The only teacher's permitted to cross the picket lines during football season are the coaches and the local newspapers applaud this for the most part.
Teachers don't lose any money from striking because there is a state law that requires 180 days of school be completed so the courts enjoin the union to return to work when this time period is in jeopardy. Under these circumstances kids often stay in school into July to graduate.
The bad news is that the State Teacher's Retirement fund is $20 Billion dollars under funded. It is run by the state which has to abide by the contracts the aforesaid 501 school districts negotiated and the 501 school districts have to raise the local school taxes every time they negotiate a new contract.
The inmates are in charge of the asylum!
RES| 11.12.10 @ 3:22PM
If Cali was a private entity the obvious action would be for it to file for bankruptcy protection while it fixes its problems, foremost of which is the ruinous public employees agreements and especially the defined benefits promise.Since states can not currently file for bankruptcy (as opposed to municipalities) the answer is for Congress to pass legislation to allow this.Once states have this tool (weapon?) they can turn things around and unwind the contracts.
Now for those of you who think the President would not agree to such a "union busting" tactic I would ask this: does anyone think that the next Congress will be willing to bail out Blue states when they had a chance to turn things around in a more conventional manner- namely by voting in
fiscally responsible legislatures? Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
stevor| 11.12.10 @ 5:02PM
The biggest THEFT in the country is the Federal Reserve. Look at our "national debt", which is FROM the Federal Reserve (which is NOT "federal" but a banking cartel). If we got rid of the Federal Reserve (which charges "interest" on smoke (because they "lend" money that is backed by NOTHING) we could have the Treasury print money INTEREST-FREE.
Unfortunately, the banksters have run this country for at least 150 years. When Lincoln wanted to have "greenbacks", it led to them killing him. When Kennedy wanted to get rid of the Federal Reserve, they killed him, too.
Even worse, it's the CIA who does these killings (and Kennedy wanted to get rid of them, too, making they be glad to kill him)
Jason| 11.12.10 @ 5:08PM
Hi,
Where do I sign up for an 8% return every year?
My 401 (k) averaged 4.7% return over the last 22 years.
I want to squeeze more from the taxpayer where do I sign up? Thanks.
Bigmike| 11.12.10 @ 7:33PM
Hey
SteveA quit making comments about situations you know nothing about. ie Todd's dad. Probably another one of these neanderthal Tea Partiers who put their foot in their mouths every time they speak
CalMark| 11.12.10 @ 9:34PM
Hail and welcome. Lost your way on the way to HuffPo, did you?
P.S. Describing Tea Partiers as "Neanderthals" (that's with a capital "N," big guy)--so original. Brilliant! No one has EVER described conservatives that way.
jstwndring| 11.16.10 @ 2:42AM
Umm.....try taking your own advice. Or, do you personally know Todd and his dad? How about Steve A? I'm specifically referring to your description of him as a "neanderthal".
One more piece of advice: Steve A will be more likely to see what you said if you reply directly to him. Or, did you not want him to respond?
Brad| 11.13.10 @ 10:20AM
Public sector unions should be outlawed. They extract their earnings and benefits directly from the pockets of taxpayers and will ALWAYS vote for the party that keeps promises them these outlandish benefits. Public sector unions as opposed to private sector unions work collusively with politicians to amass power. Public education in this country is swimming in taxpayer dollars. It's just that the money is wasted and mis-spent, typical of most government institutions. When teachers and administrators complain about the lack of funding, I laugh myself silly.
The solution in my opinion is simple: First, cap top tier pay. No more six figure salaries not including benefits for public school teachers. Second, no more defined benefit payouts. All federal and state workers should be put on 401k type retirement systems.Lastly, all public and state employees should be put on Health Savings Accounts. These would cost a fraction of what premium packages cost now.
Time to start demanding fiscal responsibility.
Marc Jeric| 11.14.10 @ 12:36PM
Excellent comment! All strong unions destroy the industries where they "work" - steel, automobile, textile, apparel, electronics, etc. Not to forget Postal Service, Amtrak, education...The crime happens when the teachers union elects the education board and then in secret meetings "negotiates" their raises and health benefits and pension rights. No wonder our education has fallen from among the first in the 1960's (when Kennedy allowed government employees to form unions) to the level of Zimbabwe while quadrupling the cost per pupil.
Brad| 11.15.10 @ 11:31AM
Thank you. You're right. Behind most failed or failing businesses lies a union. I am not against workers, I'm against unions. This idea that without them workers would be forced to work around the clock, with no breaks, no lunch, no safety etc...is pure AFL-CIO propaganda. None of this is based in reality. But, it has been useful for the brainwashing campaign. Fear helps to sell and motivate. Whenever a pro-union advocate uses this mantra, I always like to remind them that 90% of business in this country is not union and these supposed 'abuses' of the workers does not exist. Of course they cannot provide examples. We have laws in place to protect workers. Therefore unions are outdated and useless. Except of course for the politicians that rely on their contributions.
Oldefarte| 11.13.10 @ 11:28AM
LABOR UNIONS [not only municipal/teacher, but private sector as well] should all be outlawed and eliminated, as their usefulness has long been negated. During the industrial revolution period, their presence benefited factory workers by preventing labor abuse and injury; but today, with the present laws and governmental safety entities available, there is simply no reason for them. Companies are forced to pay market wages due to competition today, and unions simply result in their exorbatant wage scales above these market wages causing these corporations to outsource their labor to less costly countries [ie India and China] for profit maintaince purposes. The government should do as Reagan previously did with the air traffic controllers [and shut then all down]!!!!!!!!!!!!
escondidosurfer| 11.13.10 @ 10:51PM
My suggestion is a federal excise tax that evens the playing field. The infinite cleverness of finely crafted and targeted taxation developed by the Democrats should be used against the ruling class who have defrauded us and our children.
Tax the rich. Who is richer than the one with a cola juiced annuity retiring at 60?
Anon| 11.15.10 @ 5:53PM
The California figures are not accurate. STRS was 110% funded in 2000 and 87% funded in 2006. Also, California teachers do not pay in to Social Security but pay in 8% (matched by their districts) to STRS.
Thomas| 11.22.10 @ 2:49PM
This article is incredibly skewed. I am a California teacher and am sick and tired of teacher pensions being attacked. Why doesn't anyone ever go after police or firemen pensions? They can retire after 20 years service at the ripe "old" age of 40!
Here are the FACTS:
1. If I retired at the age of 55, after 28 years of service, my pension would be $32,000 a year. That's a fat cat pension? Give me a break!
nancy lawrence| 12.2.10 @ 2:33AM
I am also sick and tired of teacher pensions being attacked. Pick on us..go ahead, but when we have had enough you will never see such an organized revolt.
Nati Marley| 4.25.11 @ 11:52PM
I too am saddened by much of what is written above by self-serving and greed motivated rhetoric. Fortunately, books have been written to refute and clarify the obvious exaggerations and misstatements. How about taking on some Nobel Prize winners in economics?
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 6:06AM
But they are getting riled up -- and learning about such concepts as internal rate of return and special situation fund -- thanks to the notoriously underfunded California State Teachers Retirement System.