POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Pension and union roundup, 30 June 2010

Today's secret number is....70!

• State pension Ponzi scheme unravels with retirement at 70
• Dem pols turn on their union backers... reminds me of an Aesop's fable... something about a scorpion on a frog. Sorry, it's in their nature.
• Retired and rehired - this one makes me think of the Hokey Pokey. “You put your years in, you get your pension out, and you go back to work and shake it all about...”
• Pity the poor public union workers, with only a 30% boost over the private sector in wages, and only a 70% boost on benefits. It's hard for a state-workin human out there.
• Boehner: we will raise Social Security Normal Retirement Age to 70...and even more benefit cuts. Issue: are you going to raise the eligibility age from 62? Because almost everybody starts collecting after then. [yes yes, actuarial equivalence, but we need to change people's expectations re: retirement]. Reminder: current NRA is 66 [for the boomers], will be rising to 67 [for the Xers and after].
• UK unions not happy with retirement age increase...to 66. Hey, if more of y'all would smoke and drop dead at ages a decade younger, I'm sure the govt could continue supporting your pensions at young retirement ages. But alas, all those antismoking laws have done their damage....

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.