Wisconsin ----The battle of all battle, Unionized workers getting a free ride on the taxpayer gravy train.
It must be nice to have a job with the state and work for x number of years, retire with a unionized retirement pay where you contributed 0 to the fund plus free medical insurance at the expense of the taxpayer where you contributed 0 as well.
How can we live in a state and allow the state / Union bosses force the working class to pay Union dues to support the free loaders. Retirement systems are suppose to be supported by the employee investing some of their salary into a retirement fund or the stock market, not to take it all home and force the public to pay for their retirement.
Lawmakers--Congress / Executive Branch
Lawmakers are elected to office by the voters / taxpayers to serve a term in support of their state or district. Most of these lawmakers are millionaires from scratch and when they take the Oath of Office, we allow them to load up on taxpayers benefits while in office or after they are terminated / voted out.
The Congress does not work a full year at what they do. We pay them $200,000 plus to work at a part time job. When the Congress is not in session the lawmakers go home within their state domain. Some get free travel expenses or allowed to deduct the travel from taxes or to get a refund. Most probably have a government credit card that gives them access to free taxpayer money for air fares.
The leaders of the Congress are entitled to a free airplane, free fuel, an expense account for on board luxuries and are allowed to welcome aboard guest that can fly coast to coast, free of charge, eat free and booze it up on board in flight. These lawmakers travel on a weekend so they can return to their state and be home with their families. Monday mornings or sunday evening they hop on that taxpayer plane and ride / fly to work at taxpayer expense with all of the freebies on board and the thousands of dollars being spent on fuel for one ride to and from work each time they have a weekjend off. Should they be forced to live within the area they work and travel back and forth to their home state at their personal expense on the weekends if they so desire.
When these lawmakers finally retire or voted out of office, they get to keep that huge salary as a retirement income and probably free healthcare at taxpayer expense, plus some are probably protected by taxpayer money using security forces hired by taxpayer money. Should lawmakers even be authorized a retirement income when the rest of the government employees have to retire using a Merit Retirement Plan, much like the Military.
Military Personnel----Let us look at the difference in how the military is treated, compared to the Congress and Executive Branch.
Military personnel are assigned a duty station within a state / military installation for duty. They are allowed travel / moving expenses in most cases for the movement of their families and household goods (furniture) which is controlled by a weight allowance. Military personnel are given a housing allowance and what they call separate rations to buy a little food for their families. They have the option in some cases to live on base at which time they forfeit the housing allowance or to live off base and keep the housing allowance.
They get up every day and drive their personally owned car to work using gas they purchased with their monthly salary. They receive a 30 day vacation once a year so they can take a break and maybe return home to see Mom and Dad or their Spouse. They travel using their own cars, or air fares that have been purchased at their own expense. They are not afforded a travel fund or allowed to get a refund from the government, nor are they afforded any type of a government credit card to buy luxury items. When their vacation is over they return to work and repeat the same process until they (EARN) another 30 day vacation.
Military personnel are eligible for retirement at 20 years and some cases it used to be 19.5 years. Their retirement pay is based on a percentage of their salary at the time they retire, based on the number of years served. Twenty years was calculated at 50 % of your salary based on your pay grade at retirement . It did increase for time served over 20 years. The system may have changed to some degree, but it was written to serve no longer than 30 years based upon the Merit promotion System. A certain pay grade had to be obtained to retire based upon the system and number of years served.
Civil Service personnel are supposely under about the same system as the military as far as pay and promotions.
Merit Promotions Systems is used in the Military and Civil Service for pay grades unless you are fortune enough to get a GS Level position, which is pretty hard for retired military personnel unless you have a buddy.---OYES---it does exist (buddy system)---
TAXPAYERS---Is it not time to stop the unfair abuse and waste of our money to pay these outrageous salaries and retirement plans within the Congress / Executive Branch.----They at time have ask us to work without a pay check to assist them during short falls.----How about doing a service to your country and work for free if you are a millionaire and wavier the retirement pay and the Social Security.
Should there be a Merit Retirement System for Congress, Executive Branches and all other Departments of Government.-------YES
Comments
Right on James. There salaries and benefits should be decided buy the voters of the states they represent, not with a free hand in the cookie jar.
It may be too late ! The fat ass politicians over the years protected themselves by disproportionately
increasing the number of minorities in this country for one reason, to outnumber the whites, give them (minorities) freebees so in return to be re-elected by them thus keeping the fat ass politicians collecting there benefits.
Hell Pelosi is a MULTI MILLIONARE and she flew all over the place on Air Force One or Two whichever, she would take family and friends and order fancy stuff for everyone to eat and all the alcohol they wanted on OUR TAB! Makes me sick how these very people talk about how we need to do our part, how we need to sacrifice yet they have millions of their own money and still they live off of us!!! Disgusting...When are they going to sacrifice?????????????????? Nothing but a bunch of selfish, freeloaders who could care less about the taxpayers who pay their way to live like Kings and Queens. This is NOT how its supposed to be. They work for us, we don't work for them! They have it all backwards and so we need to get their heads right, and that is by kicking them to the curb! and several of them need to be in a jail cell including the King of Kings Obummer the Master Freeloader
"We the people" allowed this to happen; We sat on our asses and let Congress do it to us. Now, as soon as "we the people" start to complain about it and demand it be changed. The politicians and their party leaders scream; We, the tea party, is trying to run their parties by demanding they put up candidates that will do what " we the people" want them to do; Imagine that. Go to work tomorrow and tell your boss to sit on his ass for about 80 years and see how fast you are unemployed !
IN OTHER WORDS GET OFF YOUR FAT LAZY ASSES AND KICK THEM OUT. FIRST THE COMMUNIST / DEMO RATS THIS YEAR; THAN REPUBLICANS IN 2016
THAN "WE THE PEOPLE" WILL BE RUNNING THE COUNTRY !!!
Great article, JW.
The American people have the power through money to stop the abuses of Union and Gov't.