Good job Omaha

[sd'sker]

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

[carlfense]

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

I don't think that I've seen anyone, flaming liberal or otherwise, complaining about someone in the private sector making 130K a year.

 

But then again . . . let's not let facts get in the way of our narrative. Carry on.

[HSKR]

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

 

Why would that be an irony? Conservatives and most moderates believe government should be as limited as reasonably possible, including salaries and the private sector should be just that, private and up to them to determine what wages should be according to the free market. If you think that is an irony it proves how far to the left you are from the average citizen.

 

I agree that Fahey (D) followed up by Suttle (D) were both disasters for Omaha. I think you have (D)etected a pattern here.

[HSKR]

Pensions in general are just a disastrous way to do retirement. It involves a lot of easy promises today and a whole lot of praying tomorrow that your actuaries didn't screw up on who's going to die when and that the markets and economy in general behaves. There's rarely a happy ending to this story. Public employees should get the same thing the rest of us get: a 401k with matching contributions from the employer. Unfunded pension liabilities (including the biggest one: Social Security) are going to bring this nation to financial ruin unless we get it under control.

 

Well put. Absolutely agree.

[sd'sker]

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

Why would that be an irony? Conservatives and most moderates believe government should be as limited as reasonably possible, including salaries and the private sector should be just that, private and up to them to determine what wages should be according to the free market. If you think that is an irony it proves how far to the left you are from the average citizen.

why would what you said be an irony? liberals think people should be fairly compensated. i do not know of many people, liberal or otherwise, would think a pension that matches the take home pay while working would be reasonable.

 

this is not a left or right issue as much as a problem of politicking and pandering. imo.

[HSKR]

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

Why would that be an irony? Conservatives and most moderates believe government should be as limited as reasonably possible, including salaries and the private sector should be just that, private and up to them to determine what wages should be according to the free market. If you think that is an irony it proves how far to the left you are from the average citizen.

why would what you said be an irony? liberals think people should be fairly compensated. i do not know of many people, liberal or otherwise, would think a pension that matches the take home pay while working would be reasonable.

 

this is not a left or right issue as much as a problem of politicking and pandering. imo.

 

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

[sd'sker]

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

this is the same issue with most of the problems in america, caused by the left or right. politicians are beholden to a few groups with a lot of money or influence and everyone else gets left out. but i guess it is just easier to blame unions for all of the problems of american cities.

 

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

[HSKR]

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

this is the same issue with most of the problems in america, caused by the left or right. politicians are beholden to a few groups with a lot of money or influence and everyone else gets left out. but i guess it is just easier to blame unions for all of the problems of american cities.

 

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

 

 

Unions? No. Democrats? Yes.

[sd'sker]

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

 

 

Unions? No. Democrats? Yes.

it must be nice to live in a world where all of america's (earth's?) problems are the fault of one party, rather than the complexities of a failing political system and changing global politics.

[HSKR]

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

 

 

Unions? No. Democrats? Yes.

it must be nice to live in a world where all of america's (earth's?) problems are the fault of one party, rather than the complexities of a failing political system and changing global politics.

 

Detroit is Detroit, not all of America or the world and it's been dominated by Democrat rule for half a century, but by all means keep reaching. It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

[carlfense]

It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

The lack of self-awareness . . .

[Junior]

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

 

You do realize that there is more to Detroit's bankruptcy than the city pensions, right? An auto industry that failed to stay relevant and ahead of the times likely being the largest contributor. Once those jobs starting going, so did the city's population (In 1990, over 1 million; in 2011 700,000). This was followed by the city's tax revenues declining, and led to the inability to pay it's creditors. Certainly the pension situation didn't help matters, but that is just one creditor the city needed to pay. To place blame solely on the democrats for the Detroit fiasco is... well... mind-numbingly partisan and myopic.

[sd'sker]

Detroit is Detroit, not all of America or the world and it's been dominated by Democrat rule for half a century, but by all means keep reaching. It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

it would be, and that is why i do not live in that world. i clearly placed blame on the mayors of omaha for their debacle. i did not know their party because i really do not care; i do not live in omaha, nor vote there. what i care about is how they ran the city; i do love omaha. obviously they did poorly. i can separate the politician from my own politics.

[HSKR]

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

 

You do realize that there is more to Detroit's bankruptcy than the city pensions, right? An auto industry that failed to stay relevant and ahead of the times likely being the largest contributor. Once those jobs starting going, so did the city's population (In 1990, over 1 million; in 2011 700,000). This was followed by the city's tax revenues declining, and led to the inability to pay it's creditors. Certainly the pension situation didn't help matters, but that is just one creditor the city needed to pay. To place blame solely on the democrats for the Detroit fiasco is... well... mind-numbingly partisan and myopic.

 

FALSE. They didn't lose 300K population because they weren't relevant, the manufacturers moved jobs out of the country because once again, the UNION jobs and pensions were killing them. Take about mind-numbingly partisan and myopic and rewriting history. If you want to lay some bipartisan blame down, I'd agree that NAFTA (started by Bush I, finished by Clinton) had a big negative effect on manufacturing. I would have had no problem signing it with Canada, but the mistake was including Mexico because of their low wages. Then throw in the fact that Detroit was already paying union workers way too much plus crazy pensions and it was a no brainer to move them south.

[HSKR]

Detroit is Detroit, not all of America or the world and it's been dominated by Democrat rule for half a century, but by all means keep reaching. It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

it would be, and that is why i do not live in that world. i clearly placed blame on the mayors of omaha for their debacle. i did not know their party because i really do not care; i do not live in omaha, nor vote there. what i care about is how they ran the city; i do love omaha. obviously they did poorly. i can separate the politician from my own politics.

 

Fair enough. If you don't want to get into the D's and R's, fine. I just felt it had a big impact as to why it got to that point but I'll leave it at that. I will give you props for acknowledging that this is a problem and it needs to be resolved unlike others on here. My prediction is the Mayor will lower pensions come next contract and the union will fight like hell against and they will meet somewhere in the middle. Problem is it will still be too much and it will take several rounds of contract fighting to get it were it needs to be.