Sunday, July 19, 2009
See Anders Video. By Geniusofdespair
Check out video of Anders Gyllenhaal, Miami Herald Executive Editor, speaking like a college professor about how institutions are handling the financial crisis. He suggest that some have their head in the sand until outed by the Herald's questions (e.g. The City of Miami and Jackson Healthcare) and others, like the school board, faced the budget gap head on and worked with it. I think Anders goes too easy in the blame game, leaving them off the hook on responsibility. What about planning for the future? That should have been in the budget. Jackson was expanding all over the place in the early or mid 2000's (i.e. takeover of failed Parkway Hospital). Why?
Anders: First how about supplying a link that actually links to the video. Second, how about finding out the skinny on all the pensions? Compare: City, County and State pensions because I can see by the comments on this blog, not one of us can agree on how they work.
There is also a depressing video of the Marlins groundbreaking on the Herald site. Skip it unless you want to see Alvarez, Manny and Sanchez with shovels. Finally check out Daniel Roth-Shoer's Column about his roots. I like his thoughtful, emotion-provoking writing.
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6 comments:
For those who complain about police pensions:
Right off, know that the officers who leave with a great pension, have been putting money into their 401k (or whatever) from the beginning of their service. Although, there have been more than a few recently who lost their retirement savings in the wall street mess. And they are not going to have time to rebuild the nest egg before having to retire.
Police spend about 25 years working holidays, birthdays, weekends and nights dealing with the evil in our community most of us spend those same days avoiding.
Their families live with the constant thought that their loved ones have to go to work wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a gun.
The average life expectancy of an American male is 75.
The average life expectancy of a police officer is 57!
The average divorce rate in the US is 50%
The divorce rate for cops is a whopping 75%
So...what do police officers get for their 25 years of dedicated service?
A high divorce rate, time away from their families, daily bouts of extreme stress, office politics, and a life expectancy 18 years shorter than everyone else. So, it is difficult for me complain about giving them a pension that they have earned to reward them in whatever retirement they squeak out.
From the Police Policy Studies council:
In the U.S., non-police males have a life-expectancy of 73 years. Policemen in the U.S. have a life expectancy of 53-66 years, depending on which research one decides to embrace. In addition, police submit workmen's compensation claims six times higher than the rate of other employees, and commit suicide two to six times the national average. Hey, and that's just death and injury from "natural", "accidental" and self-inflicted causes! We have to add the fact that 2/3's of U.S. policemen slain feloniously are slain during hours we generally associate with darkness.
Thanks You Betcha' guess you know a cop or you are one!
I do know a few police officers from meetings.
As I speed through life, I do try to avoid cops, though, so I don't exactly party with them. LOL
I am just a person who sits on the sidelines and ponders things that I hear and read about. Then I research.
This is why I love reading this post. Great commentary that gives a perspective that we must all consider.
As to Jackson and other health service providers - ponder this: What are we going to do in Dade County when we finally get medicare and medicaid spending under control? The rest of the nation is really ticked off that we are at the top of the list. I think that obliges us to take some action. The problem is, that when we do, there will be a hell of a lot of federal dollars leaving our county. When we aren't churning and burning those federal bucks, there is going to be some fall out.
I think there are many misconceptiones about the pension benefits County and City employees are entitled to. County employees receive Florida Retirement System (FRS) benefits. The County pays into the system for each employee and the employee decides if they want a defined benefit or stock option. Lots of school boards, municipalities, and state employees are part of this system and it runs well. For an employee who works 30 years and selects the defined benefit plan, they will receive 48% of the average of their five highest yrs of compensation. Special Risk employees (fire, police, corrections) get a higher payout and receive full benefits after 25 years. That's the benefit they get for having high risk jobs.
City of Miami has its own pension- and City of Miami Police has a separate pension.
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