More Teacher Bashing in Lansing
Luncheon Menu: Cheese,Rice and More Beans
Over lunch the other day with some
retired teacher friends, our hostess
informed us of some new legislation
coming our way to cut our pension and
tax us some more regarding our health
insurance. I’m told its been in the works
for at least a year. Then today, I hear a
State Senator tell tea partiers that we
“teachers” should not feel attacked, but
he places us in the same class as the 24 year old
welfare receipient who won the millionaire jackpot
and yet continued to collect food stamps, because
her mind-set involved entitlement.
I wanted to scream to him that I worked
two jobs as a single mother to pay for my
college tuition, then taught and dedicated
my life to teaching for 35 years, took wage
concessions over these years, and also paid
into my retirement fund, so I EARNED
this pension. Furthermore, a promise was made.
So don’t tell me Senator that this pension can be
equated to a meager entitlement status.
The reality, though, is that today the public
school employee pension fund faces an 8 billion
dollar deficit. So this “dear” Senator is obligated
to tell us in all honesty and in fairness for the public
good, we must sacrifice and be expected to pay
more for our health insurance, be taxed more,
and receive less — otherwise our pension fund will
go bankrupt. Well, how in the heck did we get into
this pickle in the first place? I guess this Senator
forgot or is maybe too young to remember that it was
Republican Governor Engler who raided and defunded
our pension fund. He took the money and placed it in
the general fund. Then the State simply spent the money.
The State cannot replace the money due to this poor
economy. The legislature made it even worse by strongly
encouraging highly paid educators and support staff to
retire to make room for the younger generation and so school
districts could save money. Thus, eighty thousand school
employees retired. I, personally, didn’t want to retire until
I was 65 year old, but one could see the writing on the wall.
Leave graciously and voluntarily, or deviously be pushed-out.
Oh, woe is me. I know, I know … you readers in the private
sector can’t sympathize with my fate, because you’re in
worse shape than any old union worker. I can relate,
because my self-employed husband quit working
within his occupation and retired, because he could
not make enough money to cover all of the licensing
and insurance fees. Everytime, anyone tries to work,
one is faced with licensing regulations, paying taxes
disguised as fees, and having to cover continuous
educational costs. There are a lot of stupid people
going to school in hopes of finding a job, but ending
up with a just a huge pile of debt from school loans.
So at this time, there seems to be no hope especially
for the younger generation due to government
out-of-control spending and restrictions.
I, thus, can’t really blame that 24 year old girl’s attitude
about expecting government handouts. Heck, that girl
probably had to pay 50% or more in capital gain tax
and most likely will be broke within a year. If she
invests in Wall Street, the white collar bandits will
steal her money; if she buys a home she will lose it to
high property taxes; and if she puts it in a bank
hyper-inflation in 2013 will rears its ugly head and
swipe her money.
With Obamacare, we’re all suppose to just wither away
or live in a little hut. If you are lucky to live in Michigan
you might survive by winning the lottery, or by cashing in on
a Casino jackpot in your friendly neighborhood casino, or
by just watching your grass grow. If you do
possibly land a government or union J.O.B. you might
get to rent and drive a government motor’s car.
I say rent, because they are quite unaffordable
considering a worker’s wage. Be careful though
you might get fired for being late to work. One
can only drive 35 miles before having to recharge.
Don’t even think about being self-employed or
being in sales. Imagine paying $10 a gallon
per mile or pulling a trailor to your job site
with one of those electric go carts.
