Thursday, January 29, 2009
The two-tier system
Or is it three tiers? One for Wall Street. One for government workers. One for the rest of us. ... I know the following recommendations won't 'balance the budget' but they do add up to a lot of smaller and more worthy programs that are soon going to get cut:
Update III - From Reader No. 1 again, this time on those $18.4 billion in bonuses:
Update IV -- Joan identifies a variation of false consciouness, i.e. public apathy.
Or is it three tiers? One for Wall Street. One for government workers. One for the rest of us. ... I know the following recommendations won't 'balance the budget' but they do add up to a lot of smaller and more worthy programs that are soon going to get cut:
No more douple-dipping or buying back sick and vacation time, a policy that allowed Boston educator Michael Contompasis - a great guy, I know - to “retire” with a $270,000 salary, plus a $147,967 sick-and-vacation time buyback, plus a $139,782 pension, plus a double-dipping add-on of $65,000 when he went back to work for Mayor Menino.Update -- 'Don't Worry, Be Happy!:
No more collecting a state pension before you’re 60 or 65. That means state cops could not get a 60 percent pension after 20 years or 75 percent after 25 years. It means Jim Rooney - another great guy, I know - could not make $369,292 from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority while simultaneously collecting a $70,00 pension from the MBTA.
Negative people might look at Wall Street and see rampant corruption, unfettered greed, recklessness beyond imagination. That's not what Wall Street observed. Wall Street observed exemplary performance and duly awarded itself $18.4 billion in bonuses.Update II -- Reader No. 1:
Mass Pension reform point is right on. Marjorie's next column might ask whether those in the broad Massachusetts professional middle and upper-middle class are suffering from false consciousness in continuing to elect politicians who support such systems...Kevin also contemplates false consciousness as inversely expressed by Roger Daltrey.
Update III - From Reader No. 1 again, this time on those $18.4 billion in bonuses:
I was particularly struck by the closing NYT paragraph:
"On Wall Street, where money is the ultimate measure, some employees apparently feel slighted by their diminished bonuses. A poll of 900 financial industry employees released on Wednesday by eFinancialCareers.com, a job search Web site, found that while nearly eight out of 10 got bonuses, 46 percent thought they deserved more."
Another victory for the self-esteem movement!
Update IV -- Joan identifies a variation of false consciouness, i.e. public apathy.
