Meet the retirees of CalPers Pension crisis

[@Radnally]

I met a retired San Francisco fireman 15 years ago. He was 50 years old. I asked why he retired so early? He said that they would let him retire with his full pension and that the pensions all paid so much that he wanted to collect as much as possible before the system crashed.

[@2-old-Forthischet]

I retired from the "mother" of all telecommunication companies over ten years ago. Before I gave then my retirement notice, I asked the human resources group of the company if my pension would be guaranteed for life. They responded with a resounding no, so I took the cash buy out option.

[@kercchan3307]

very smart

[@OdinSweetie]

What percent of your salary was that? Was it 'reasonable'? Because I don't trust other people with my money, I say, "You did the smart thing. The right thing." Thank you.

[@clairemackinlay6764]

You are learning a lesson here. You live in a nannie state. California lost 9000 businesses in 5 years! Did you look at population demographics? In the 1980's California was the golden state was the 5th largest economy in the world. Now, poorest state in the union!

[@clairemackinlay6764]

I have no idea how you thought this. These operations are Democratic nightmares. I knew Californians in the 1980s. California now refuses to follow federal law. They are a sanctuary state. Jerry Brown has destroy ed his fathers legacy. 40 days ready to fail and on and on and on. Califorians have an attitude we are too big to fail. Calexit?!! I trillion in debt!! Huge homeless population. Businesses are moving out of there by the droves. States that are accepting them are generally stating do not bring your politics with you! Jerry Brown is a fascist Marxist philosophy major. Read ads capital. Marx and angels. Their conclusion? Wonderful idea but does not work. Venezuela?

[@jimmyarmijo5335]

Smart"""""!!!!!!

[@ohlordy5425]

Wow her pension was 100% of her income and that does not include FREE health care for life......

[@DaveBraga]

She should have been funding an IRA like we do in the real working world outside of do-nothing government that expects the world to pay them. We get ZERO pension and public servants get to retire on our money. What a scam.

[@elgringograndelattegringo4357]

Joanne Woodward she must have been promoted a few times or had a few raises along her career.

[@BigRed2]

DaveBraga I was medically retired for at age 30 for chronic sleep insomnia and make $60 k TAX FREE a year with free healthcare for life , many in my situation and many lie to get in my situation because big gov is quick to spend other people’s money

[@linhaton4957]

Private businesses go bankrupt all the time and pensions are cut more than 60 percent. What makes city workers any different. No one reports on the private sector pensioners.

[@MattSmith-vl8zp]

People didn't live to be 80 plus when these were put into effect. How the hell did people think you could work for 30 years and then retire for 30 years making almost the same amount of money?

[@CraigFactsareFacts]

But they do. Government workers think money comes out of a hat. It did for all their working years and they expect it to when they retire as well.

[@garybulwinkle82]

It's unsustainable!!! YOU CAN'T PAY PEOPLE NOT TO WORK!!! I think it's good these people get to join the rest of us in the private, non-union sector! These people have lived off the cream of the crop their whole lives and now they complain when it's all coming tumbling down! LOOK WHO YOUR VOTING FOR!!!! The Democrats want America to dissolve into the tyranny of the NWO (new world order); this is what you're voting for!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!! It will get a hundred times worst where the Democrats and the rhino Republicans are taking us!!!!

[@Pfsif]

Those that die before hand get nothing so some of it evens out.

[@troyelam8978]

Matt Smith I’ll tell you how the hell these people thought they could retire for 30 years and make almost the same amount of money.... It’s because the government agency they signed up to work for promised they would! They signed a contract stating they would get such and such pay, such and such benefits, and such and such retirement. This lady didn’t go in and demand a certain retirement or certain pay. She responded to what basically amounts to a help wanted ad at some point and accepted the terms that were promised to her. So why the hell would she NOT think she’s going to get what she was promised by a GOVERNMENT agency who asked for her help and promised certain things in return?

[@aolvaar8792]

How else do you hire a Harvard J.D.(lawyer) for $60K?Unwilling to charge the taxpayer today for $130Kyou offer a gravy train for future generation to pay for.Just like Social Security

[@brettbenson8359]

Upcoming attractions Illinois...

[@seanm3226]

And NJ after that!

[@johnhumer897]

This will happen in just about every state within the next generation.

[@terri4340]

i've been telling EVERYONE who'll listen that this WAS going to happen but i continually hear that i'm a fearmonger...ok...

[@tedgegi155]

$3900/month----"not a whole lot"; that's a lot more than the over-riding majority of Americans will ever get as a pension.

[@Pennyk900]

She should be getting 4800 a month. It's still great money. But when you earn it. You should get your money.

[@gusgrizzel8397]

How come we private sector workers don't get a government pension? Social Security is about 1200 a month. We pay MORE in taxes, get paid LESS to do the same job, but no pension. It's not right.

[@Carl-LaFong1618]

How about a Los Angeles fire fighter. $120,000 a year..... for life. and that's retiring at age 53.

[@gusgrizzel8397]

@@Carl-LaFong1618 That probably adds up to a few million. Why and how did this ever get started? Another thing is COLAs. No one I know gets them in private sector.

[@r.a.dalton8807]

Expect to start seeing this situation happen all over the country in the next few years or sooner. We have known for some years now that the pension system time bomb was going to go off at some point but little has been done to fix it. This is what happens when politicians promise to folks what they know they can't afford in order to get re-elected.

[@josheverett9975]

The city that she worked for mismanaged funds and stopped paying towards her retirement. This is a problem with the city not making the payment. If calpers protected every employee of a city that defaulted on payments then the whole system would fail. 99% of the comments on this page are from ignorant ideologues who have no idea whats going on. Everyone wants free money. The city is at fault and should be the ones to pay the tab. This lady places no blame on the small towns inability to pay their bills. Even though this town bought a $35,000 welcome sign while being broke lol.

[@apr194828]

PROUD californians voted for it now they got it

[@brandamber]

This is the problem with these high pensions, they are expecting WAY more back then what they ever put in. It's not sustainable.

[@richardfeibel3154]

YOU DON'T HAVE CLUE!!!

[@cosmeticscameo8277]

@@richardfeibel3154 no it's true. the pensions promised way too much, with longer life expectancy, fluctuating markets, such low interest rates. the pension managers have to make riskier and riskier bets just to pay out that 7-8% etc when we all know there isn't 7% to be made.

[@jaymelee23]

@@richardfeibel3154 -- STFU. People contribute about 7 to 8% year after year until their 60s (when they're eligible for Social Security). The average person only get $1,300 on SS and works wayyyy longer than public employees who generally only have to work 30 years to be eligible. People go on Medicare at 65 and pay 500 and over for a rider plan. Public employees do not have to wait until 65 to get some sort of medical coverage and get public employees receive excellent benefits. This is NOT sustainable at all NOR FAIR.

[@pr433]

Ponzi scheme. Ive been looking into the underfunding of excessive retirement plans .... add the new factor of the current trend of a mass exodus of business exiting from California because the state is not currently business friendly and taking with it the middle class. It is predicted that California will end up with a 2 class system: High Income and Low Income comprised of welfare recipients and service employees. Cities are charging extra sales tax on the premise that things like education, etc is benefitting when in fact, the retirement expense is covered with little else to show for the money. When politicians try to turn around the system so that it is logically financially sustainable ...... the unions step in and push forth a competing candidate in the next election to oust a "trouble maker" and bring in the union's best interests. Once again the baby boomers are getting the good end of the stick....although I feel sorry for this retiree's distress - "The city was not able to meet its obligations" but if the system had been rehauled many years ago - a better outcome might have helped. Just as other CalPers are continuing on today - abet some reform in recent years .... losing our middle class will have consequences.

[@angeloferroni6435]

@@jaymelee23 n

[@billding7073]

The Union of Soviet California has a prison crisis, a public assistance crisis and a conscience crisis.

[@13WICKER]

While this was in California, it's not a problem unique to California. Tennessee and many other states have the same problem.

[@brandamber]

How ridiculous to be paid MORE when retired, than when you were actually working!

[@TargaWheels]

I've seen a good amount of people become wealthy in retirement. Never made any sense to me.

[@papaeli123]

California pension plans are crazy

[@flinch622]

Socialism is the ultimate pyramid scheme: the players hide behind the name of the people as they line their pockets.

[@thomasjust2663]

@@papaeli123 Look at New Jersey!! they are just if not more generous and the taxes are sky high

[@seventhchild7270]

Social security......the average retiree receives on 1200.00 to 1400.00 from social security....thats it!

[@JohnBowl14690]

So the city she works for doesn't pay for their share of the pensions, yet they want Calpers to pay full pensions anyway? Wow. Money for nothing.

[@fatcat7303]

Think of all the welfare money spent on people that never paid a dime into the system and federal taxes that have been collected from all the working people. I say leave this woman alone and her pension and cut off joses welfare to make ends meet.or stop give iran or north korea a boat load of money everytime they act up.just saying people.

[@roselyncaro8119]

Well said!!

[@eindhovendegekste168]

That pension is way too high. Crazy. They will not be the last "victims".

[@rackets7991]

Its crumbs.. Police & Firemen get 250k annual pensions and a dog catcher was getting 129k annually...Thats crazy..

[@richardfeibel3154]

ALL PENSION FUNDS ARE THE DUMPING GROUND FOR THE WALL STREET HIGH RISK BAD BETS!!THE FUNDS ARE STUPID TO LET WALL STREET MANAGE THEM!

[@ryanborder189]

Think about it-she reties at 65 and lives for another 23 years-thats means that her pension pot would be approx $1.2million. Did she really earn that kind of pension. Imagine that the member are having to pay contributions to fund this and she is probably on a lower pension-the whole system is rotten to the core and will collapse.

[@Nunya_Business_]

She paid at least 7% of her wage into a pension for 34 years. The city should have been paying at least that as well. Cal-Pers has calculated based on 8% return, which they never had a problem getting until the housing market crashed. It wasn't all that long ago when you could buy 7.5% CD's for 3 years. Do some simple math in excel, it is fairly simple math. 8% will double in less than 9 years. Say she made 20k first year and paid 1400 to Cal-Pers, she would have over 21K after 34 years at 8%. 42K if the city matched, part of the problem is, Cal-Pers didn't make the city match, that is why the city is always on the hook for that employee. Cola's, whether year yearly or bi-anually are covered in this scenario. This is simple compound interest, those that disagree are just un-educated. There are a myriad number of reasons this is the way it is but let's start with the fact that we have had extremely low interest rates for years. That is horrible for this kind of fund. Huge increases in wages for police and fire and doubling of wages for management all in the last 10 to 15 years. It is way out of proportion with inflation at say 3%. I could go on, but you should get the point. The huge giveaways of money at the turn of this century. Many should likely go to prison for some of the crap that has gone on, or have their assets seized. Lots of money should be taken back and cut from existing retirees as well, but, that is another story...

[@scottrice370]

This lady when she got paid, money was taken out of her check and and money was paid by the city too into cal-pers. The money was then put into investments to cover future pension costs. Or that's the way it's supposed to work.

[@jaymelee23]

@@Nunya_Business_ --wahhhhhh wahhhhhhhhh "she paid at least 7% of her wage into a pension for 34 years." What do you think people on Social Security paid into? They pay about 7.5% of their wages all their lives and NEVER get a huge percentage of his or her final salary (private employers also match that; the same as your little example for public employees). The average person on SS gets $1,300 per month!!!!! They also have to work much longer since they're not eligible for SS until their 60s!!! No one on SS can retire in their 50s after 30 years of work. Pensions are not sustainable NOR FAIR for those paying into them!

[@Nunya_Business_]

@@jaymelee23 Judging from your introduction, I can already see you are too intellectually challenged to understand any of this, but I will tell you simply that SSI is nothing but a tax that is doled out to anyone and has been stolen from since the beginning and that is why it pays so little, it is NOT a pension. Do you invest 10% minimum (should be at least 20%) as recommended tax-deferred? Doubt it. If you save money, you are an idiot, it loses value every day. You don't have to worry, by the time you are old enough to retire, they will be euthanizing anyone 65+ and money is not real anyway, inflation is intentional and not a good thing. This is all dress rehearsal. This is assuming you are young. If not, sadly, you have made a lot of bad choices in your life and will have to live on cat food.... Best of Luck!

[@TargaWheels]

This lady is clueless and it sounds like the interviewer is guiding her through this discussion to fit his agenda.

[@ruready4adventure743]

Really disappointing that a dirty state like California can do this to these hard working retirees. God bless her and the rest. Note: be in control of your money, do not leave it up to the company you work for. Diversify...buy gold, silver, real estate etc.

[@gatesmw50]

I'm William Devane and I buy gold every chance I get ... blah blah blah.

[@sharongygi1601]

They can not provide the pensions because they promised more then they could ever provide. The money was probably never there. The cities in this country has been taking from the present workers To pay for past workers. None of the cities in California are financially solvent. They haven't been for many years. You can never be sure of your retirement. Nothing is assured.

[@troyb.4101]

Way over paid WTF I worked civil service at $24.00 that is 48k a year, and these peopl think their worth 48k in retirement. No wonder the system is bankrupt.

[@troyb.4101]

She made 40k working , and expcts 49k in retirement. Maybe for a very limited time like 10 years.

[@pcmountaindog]

It needs to be reformed by closing it when the last penny is paid out.

[@videomaniac108]

I know a retired police chief from a small California city who is getting about $250K per year from CalPERS. He retired at age 50 or 52, after having been on the job as chief for only 4 years. Essentially, he spiked his pension by going from a line officer to the chief of police for a short period before his retirement, where his pension benefit levels would be based primarily on his salary level in the last few years before retirement. His current pension payments are actually more than what he was getting while he was working as chief, due to the generous cost of living increases etc. My ex wife is a librarian in the community college system here in California and she is slated to retire under CalSTRS with a huge pension payoff.

[@pcmountaindog]

Well, it's doubtful he will be getting that for long. Me and my money (his pension) left California and will never set foot in the state again. Sooner or later the under funded situation will have zero funding. Only so much can be borrowed, a state can't print money like the feds, can't tax people after they move out. So any sucker who falls for "we will pay out 100,000 dollars a month for as long as you live, free health care, a free car, a free house, free car insurance, free food, free electric, free gas, FREE, FREE,FREE,FREE,FREE,FREE. If this is the level of intelligence of the average UNION worker, it's all free for ever and ever, then their stupidity should be a pension worth nothing. SUCKERS, you took the bait, you will never get paid. Now see what it's like for real working people who have to live of their savings. CA, needs to be a 100 percent sovereign state which deals with it's own default. My first suggestion would be to raise the Taxes on Maxine Waters 5 million dollar house to 1 million a year, good luck getting her to pay her "FAIR SHARE" next go after Nancy Pelosi and her millions again good luck with that one. NO FEDERAL BAILOUT FOR THESE LOSERS. We don't need a fence around Mexico, we need one around CA.

[@pcmountaindog]

I don't know what a COPs pension should be, in big cities they have a difficult job to do. But to each COP I recommend this. YOU DO NOT WANT A PENSION. Your pension money must be delivered to you for your own private management so this corruption stops. All money must be delivered to your private account. You may then learn to manage it yourself or get a planner to help you. If your pension is in the hands of someone else no matter who funds it your savings are at risk. Private funds can't be distorted like in a pension plan. A private retirement savings plan, funds in a persons private account can never be under funded, the holder always knows what is there. A real pension can never make promises of payment into the future since it can never know what future returns will be. Pension payouts must be base on the funding at the time of payout. Cops deal with theft every single day. They of all people should know that you can't place your life savings in the hands of an unknown person and expect it to be there tomorrow. An S&P 500 index fund is available for 1/4 of 1 precent over head. Pension plan mangers will take 10 times that. These Pensions are ponzi schemes which will always die at some point. All these pension holders are in trouble because they didn't take matters into their own hands. Trust a union and you will get screwed. The union should be fighting to get your money into your hands so you can invest it. Why won't that happen, because union management are crooks who only want your dues. Never join a union and pay someone else to protect you, they will steal your money and then you will have no money or protection. Always opt out of a union and save your money. Take charge of your future and when you are 50 or 60 you will know what you have and you won't be dependent on CA or Illinois. Don't wind up like the woman who is the subject of this video. She is a total loser who voluntarily handed her life savings over to a crook.

[@brianmcintyre4319]

Welcome to California lower your expections in life.

[@beaniegreen4849]

This lady exemplifies the reaction of all the victims of overtaxation and retirement robbery; what needs to be done is active aggressive audits and firings and recalls of the damn politicians who pull this on citizens. If citizens get mad, they need to ACT! Standing around looking confused doesn't help. i feel for this lady. EVERYthing is going up, utilities, taxes, rents, groceries, etc. Pensions do not; and now they have stolen the pension.

[@jaywilliam8367]

Cry me a river! The very idea Of pensions that pay the same or more than when you worked is Total BS(20-30 years or work at that) While the majority of people struggle in retirement after working 45-50 years on average. They are lucky to get enough social security or 401k to get by.

[@annawarner1078]

REDUCE STATE PENSIONS TO PENSIONS PAID BY PRIVATE INSURANCE. Getting pension of $49,000 on salary of $50,000 with cost of living adjustment is fraud!

[@MrBojac]

The Boeing company froze pension benefits for existing employees two years ago... deal with that!

[@harrychu650]

Recently, in NYC it was disclosed that there was overtime abuse resulting in $200k pensions for Long Island Railroad workers. How isn't this system going to fail when there is this level of abuse.

[@randomcitizen943]

Hold up. She made maybe 40 to 50k (her words) and her pension is 48k. Too effing bad its getting cut. Nobody should expect more from their pension than they made in their job. These types of pension plans are completely ridiculous.

[@RK-vi7uv]

She said it right first when she said welfare. Anybody else who works isn't guaranteed a pension just because they work. She had a cush job, she should have saved her money for retirement. She should be happy to get $19k that is more than a lot of retirees get.

[@Absaalookemensch]

This is a natural consequence of a failed economic policy. Too many taking and too few giving. The outlays exceed the income. It's so simple even a 5th grader could understand it. Tax payers are leaving the state while tax recipients are moving in. Voting tax recipients who will vote in higher entitlements. She should declare herself an undocumented person, she'll get more than her retirement.

[@victorjohnson7512]

And yet they still vote democrat...

[@mafp22w]

She, of all people, should have known the crooks that are attracted to politics. You can't keep taking from the private sector without expecting a collapse. Government is way too big.

[@Daniel--zt5wh]

mafp22w You are contradicting yourself, private vs government are two different things. Government is not too big, that is a lie, and if they are allowed to do their job. And privatization will collapse the economic system (look what happened in the 2008 crash). And after all, the public will bail out the private sector (loom what happened in the 2008 crash, big banks being bailed out while their CEO were still getting huge amounts of bonuses at the expense of the tax payers.

[@chocolatte6157]

Taxpayers promised? No, the politicians promised. The taxpayers ponied up. These days a large majority of citizens have no pension but need to save on their own and provide for themselves. Public sector unions are one of the few classifications of workers who are extended the benefit of a pension on the backs of the taxpayers. I can feel sympathy for this lady because the rules were changed on her. Had there been no promise of a pension, she could have put money into an IRA. Now she is stuck. But this interviewer is an Ahole as far as I’m concerned. They refer to the faceless “city” as the source of money, but it’s the person down the street paying their pension, a person who probably has no pension. In that regard I have no sympathy for public unions.

[@keitha.9788]

The truth is retirement benefits for public employees are far greater than the commercial business sector. The solution is to CUT the retirement benefits and put a cap on retirements of $100K (which is still far greater than the commercial sector)..... Generally speaking, public employees don't work harder, have better vacation and holiday benefits, or take greater career risks than their counterparts in the commercial sector.

[@billrundell2097]

False report on Calipers pension.. . I believe I heard her say that the adjustment was to be cut 60%. That is not the base pension amount, but the adjusted increase. Her monthly pension will still increase by 40% of an adjusted value, pension still increasing only by a smaller amount. . I replayed the you-tube and I am correct. Her net pension will not decrease, only adjustment is decreased.

[@skrzek]

nobody is crying over my 401K. I've been putting every penny I could save into that system most of my working life , it took a dive and it is most certain now it is not going to be enough to cover my expenses during the retirement. We are in a total economical disaster mostly because of high taxation to cover the CAL-PERS needs. We simply have an overgrown bureaucracy.

[@smb123211]

We know several retirees from CA who worked for the state. All are getting incredible pensions and benefits that are entirely unsustainable. (10 years gave 50%, 18 years gave 70%, 25 years give 100% in many cases.) Most absurd, firemen and cops can retire at 110% of income (by building generous vacation and overtimes) at age 50 after 30 years. Unions were smart in making agreements in good times and locking in ridiculous rates of expected return despite warnings that it was all nonsense. Now they want to continue something that cannot be continued.

[@smb123211]

Actually the unions used a two-prong attack - promise slavish loyalty to the Democratic party and filling its coffers and negotiating in good economic times when it's far more likely to assume unreasonable rates of return. Remember, projections were based on the absurd notion of a 7.5% return (now lowered to 7%) WITH rising health care coverage. In 2016, the rate of return was 1/2 of 1%. Do the math. T

[@elgringograndelattegringo4357]

Joanne Woodward corrections get 90%, God bless them.

[@returnofthegorgon8687]

Joanne Woodward .... it's funny how you fuck tards forget that prison guards die at 57..... the means the only get 7 years of retirement you stupid fuck!!!

[@davidlyon5897]

smb12321 Yeah, a retired CA fireman lives up the road from me and he seems rich. Has all the toys you can imagine.

[@toddlavigne6441]

unrealistic....tax payers should not be supporting these pensioners

[@k.r.v.4219]

It was democRat politician that made those promises! NOT taxpayers! It's a terrible injustice for that nice Lady! But now she can join the rest of her peers. Now she needs to unfortunately sell her house and get out of that awful state! You cannot spend what you do not have, unless your a politician! Especially one looking for votes!! You are just the first of many!

[@gatesmw50]

KRV It s also the union bosses promising benefits that they cannot possibly deliver on.

[@freetrailer4poor]

In my opinion they are being conned. The social security growth in checks is 4% over past 10 years. The Calpers trust fund has grown 7%. Furthermore, there is no need for the fund not one penny of it as current employees should be paying retired employees. Calpers has over 2000 employees, to do what? Give money to hedge funds so they can give big kickbacks to liberal candidates and support taxing propositions. If you freeze benefits, the fund grows at 7%. Calpers should be disbanded, trust fund sent back to taxpayers, and every employee should get a 50% pay cut.

[@freetrailer4poor]

The get this on top of social security right?

[@freetrailer4poor]

This lady should sue Calpers, does everyone get their benefits cut 60% to poverty levels?

[@joemunch58]

An interview comprised of a series of leading questions.

[@bsaver5942]

That's a great pension, but Calif needs to pay for all the illegals so the taxes are high. State tax is 22% !!

[@pcmountaindog]

I'll sell you the Brooklyn bridge. You can live off the tolls you collect. Well suckers, you just found out that you can only trust the funds that are in your hand. Trust some government or union pension? Tell us how cat foot tastes when you get stiffed. You fell for it now live with your mistake. I'm one of the working class who is still working at 70, no one is paying me any pension and I'm not paying yours.

[@timheasman2984]

There pension has since been restored

[@camsputer]

one of the top recipients for CApers receives around fifty thousand per month, that's right, $50,000 per month, public safety personal retiring today at 55 yrs of age usually can qualify for around $ 8,000 per month and this doesn't count health care benefits, they also receive around 3% cola per year.

[@boro4316]

Oh I never saved and invested a dime, eating out, living so good, now what.Oh just raise taxes - blank stare-

[@drumyogi9281]

Not to mention those vacations I guarentee she takes lol

[@ericthered760]

I'm a fed with just as many years as she has and I don't get 49K !!!!

[@us-unclesam6566]

Her claim is just. She had an employment contract with the city; if employers are permitted to break the terms of these contracts because they promised something they can't deliver; how about we impound all the assets of the past elected officials as they are considered ill-gotten gains. The money then could be applied to the workers pensions. Why do people not hold these politicians accountable for their lies? Next after there assets are impounded we throw them in jail for fraud in that they signed up to fund the pensions but never put the correct amount of money in the fund. This would never have happen if the first time they failed to fund the pension plan as agreed , they were removed from office and the situation corrected.

[@warrenpeece1726]

It's not CalPers, it's the city. CalPers will continue to pay, at the expense of service cuts to all CA residents.

[@ditchdigger93]

I would like to know what she drew on CalPers before and after the reduction. I think from all I've seen they should have never drew anywhere near what the did in the first place. I live in Kansas, I paid into KPRS for 38 years and I now draw $1,366 a month. That's all, it is not designed to pay you full wages the rest of your life. Oh, and Social Security is a joke, it is even less than that.

[@jennymisteqq695]

Did you notice after she said "I don't know what I'm going to do", she was kind of biting her lower lip. So sad, California has some screwed up priorities.

[@targetthenarcissist3628]

It's their own fault. Public employees are oligarchs who don't do anything productive.

[@azmike1]

So true. The promise of pensions is a lie.

[@vernwallen4246]

Yes they do,they produce paper work.

[@videomaniac108]

She doesn't know what she's going to do about a 60% pension cut that's looming? How about readjusting spending priorities and adopting a more frugal lifestyle that will be within her means that will still be 40% of what she had before. What she is going to get will put her approximately a little above what most Social Security recipients get. I adjusted my standard of living over 20 years ago so that I would be able to bank a sizeable portion of my salary in savings. As a result, I now have a comfortable nest egg that will supplement my Social Security income nicely, if necessary. She might consider working part-time in some sort f non-demanding job that could at least partially defray her living expenses.

[@pcmountaindog]

Yes and stupid residents who think the tooth fairy is real. Get with the program, money not in your personal account is a promise and is money you don't have. These people did not meet their responsibilities and now they want someone else to give them a free ride. The should have told the Unions to F off and save their own money. A good pension is one where you get a real pay check and save and invest. Gee, sounds like the IRA I have and funded with the money I earned. To all, get out of CA before it's too late. Nothing you have is yours, it belongs to Jerry Brown and he will decide what you get to keep and it won't be much. I have a feeling Jerry Brown has a nice pension and has figure how to get paid first.

[@jimclaire7996]

Interesting subject. I think we will see a lot more of this in the future. I have a federal pension and I always live in fear of loosing the pension. Thanks for sharing.

[@johnmccarthy169]

Well that is 19 grand MORE than I ever will get so I don't feel sorry for her at all.

[@uwantsun]

vetted Hildebeast supporter whines about money...join the club. Her pension was 100% of income???????? Must BE NICE.

[@rivco5008]

My once-beautiful home state, my family's home for 165 years, is going down in flames...

[@wolfpak8228]

Californian -and you don't know why? Liberal lunatics!!

[@MountaineeringSense]

This is sad, but it is gonna get much worse! The entire country is insolvent and some people are just now beginning to realize it! There is now way out of this mess.

[@sycpup]

i feel for this lady. but i have a hard time having sympathy for civil servants who, for the most part, do very little productive work, for a much higher salary and benefits AND pension than anyone in the private sector would get with an equivalent job.

[@chicagogyrl7849]

Brian C AMEN!

[@pcmountaindog]

The thought of paying pension benefits, which I do not have to the likes of the people at the Department of Motor Vehicles who never gave me quality service is not cool with me. Wellcome to the real world where working people have to plan and save. The woman in this video is responsible for her situation the same as I am. I moved out of CA because I can' pay to support her family and mine too. Sorry, you lose, they lied to you, now tell you grand children how you screwed up and why, it's YOUR FAULT. I'm on my own and so is she, now she can deal with it.

[@shannonrupright1682]

I'm sorry, what about police? Corrections officers?

[@jonathanjacques7250]

Amen

[@toddlavigne6441]

the tax payers are paying enough if the city fucked up take them to court

[@pcmountaindog]

The tax payers WERE paying enough. I moved out, along with my money. TX is nice, I have a nice home, no income tax, and I can buy any kind of light bulb I want. Yo, JB, get stuffed. To those left behind, get out while you still can or deal with the fact your neighborhood will look like Detroit in short order.

[@kercchan3307]

and dont take your California politics with you.

[@lisabaltzer3163]

kerc Chan Most of us former Californians ( I went to Idaho) are not liberals and we moved to get away from Californian politics.

[@skrzek]

If the city is ordered to pay to the CAL-PERS, they will simply raise taxes on the entire city population. One way or the other the taxpayers are screwed.

[@scottjohnson635]

skrzek no they want they will file bankruptcy 2 reduce the amount of debt and reduce the payment to the retiree

[@damiandelapp5490]

Woe woe woe hold on here she’s the exception let’s talk about the other 95% that’s retiring at 140k + a year!

[@southhillfarm2795]

$48,000 annual pension benefits makes this lady practically a millionaire if she lives 30 years past her retirement. That's why non government employees get so passed off when listen to this kind of nonsense. Glad they are joining the rest of society. If they cut her pension in half they are stilt doing better that most in the private sector.

[@JosephNine]

CA. CAL-PLOPS NEEDS TO START THE GOOD OLD SHAKE DOWN ON ALL NON TAX PAYERS ????

[@harjitatwal7918]

How about when they cut social security payments.

[@robertmontgomery7158]

Chicago is next??

[@Ganesha900]

Something is wrong with this picture! Unless her husband was earning in the 6 figure category & Social Security is supplementing her monthly income, how can a person who was earning 40K yearly, be given 4K+ a month in retirement $? Evidently, now, the 4 people are receiving their past monthly contribution, minus the city's out of proportion matching funds, plus an added realistic $ readjustment. CalPERS retirees who do not fall into this category should not lose any sleep over retirement cuts!

[@Smokeless1167]

She's afraid to admit she is mad at private taxpayers because she knows they don't support her gravy.

[@WJack97224]

If I had been making the kind of bucks that translated to a pension of 40K-50K/year. then I would have known that something was wrong and I would have set aside half my take-home pay so as to prepare for The Day of Reckoning. BTW, 19K/yr. is substantially more that the typical SS retiree receives.

[@rahkinrah1963]

Gee...wish I had a pension...that's B.S.!

[@Pennyk900]

A reason to save your money. Don't count on any body to take of you in retirement .

[@PeeWeeHenson]

A FAILING PENSION PLAN IS NOT THE FAULT OF PENSIONERS. THE AGREEMENT/CONTRACT WAS MADE BY HER BOSSES AND THOSE SHE PAID TO REPRESENT HERE (UNION MEMBERSHIP) THEY ARE THE ONES THAT NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

[@hughrblackwell]

60% is outrageous. There can;t be that much of a shortfall.

[@marklokken1378]

She trusted her employer. The city It’s not CalPers that let her down. It was the city

[@henryclifton-Quanco]

The Fed kept interest too low too long

[@kennystephanieschauer4319]

This is really sad, but the city should have paid their bills to protect their employees/retirees. If CalPERS covers all entities that default, they would be further in deficit. Hold the city accountable. Those 4 people should sue the city for not fulfilling their contract/obligation.

[@kathyborthwick6738LakotaEmoji]

48 thousand in California is worth maybe 10 thousand in Texas!

[@thegodfatheroftoys3349]

There are a ton of ex state workers in California who make over 100k in pension. Not to mention pension spiking and air time

[@drumyogi9281]

@Snow 123 because they earn that money and this lady didn't? It's pretty obvious lol

[@dam1041960]

Move to a state with a lower cost of living. You can make it with 20k a year.

[@azurcote007]

How can someone not know what their annual salary was. “I don’t know, 40-50k”? This woman is clueless.

[@miamioverdrive1675]

a million $$ for FOUR employees!!! does THAT sound right?

[@videomaniac108]

These people underfunded the pension fund for many years and very strongly resisted, along with their unions, proposals that were made by the pension management to increase the employee's and their employer's contributing shares in order to ensure the long-term health of the fund. The fund's management assumed unrealistically high rates of return on investments, as a rationale for keeping the employee's contributions excessively low. As a result of this chronic underfunding, drastic cuts to the benefits levels that were expected and demanded have to be made. An additional problem was increases in benefits applied retroactively, with no mechanism to fund it with increased contributions. Greed, mismanagement and fraud and so the retirees now have to retire on an income that's in line with what Social Security recipients get. I'm not shedding any tears.

[@hvacman2009]

that's what you get with fairy tales

[@thegodfatheroftoys3349]

Really!!! What could this lady have possibly done in a town of 700 to require people to pay her nearly 50k a year!!! So all the people in that town have to pay about 60 a year times every retiree.... that seems fair. They mentioned 4 retirees in the story. So say each of them live 25 years after retirement. Each person in that town is responsible for roughly 6k over that time. 6k for providing 0 services for 25 years..

[@tun6006]

There are many to blame with this crisis and I can't help but not feel too sorry for people who propagate this failed system. When did it ever make sense to think it's ok to expect more money in the end then you put in? I wouldnt be surprised either if they voted in politicians who kept promising higher pensions.

[@jonathanjacques7250]

I think all public pensions will have to be cut in the future. All are way to generous.

[@Kilocharlie33]

This is a disgrace, the managers of this pension scheme should be going to jail, i reckon the pensioners should take a class action against the state of California and the city governments, they knew this was coming, If I was a resident the writing was on thee wall years ago, California lives beyond its means, next step bankruptcy not that far away. YOU WERE CHEATED!

[@walterkiel552]

CALPERS is an example of why you don't give bureaucrats money to manage. You might as well flush money down the toilet!! Once they start cutting deals with money managers... private equity fees and costs will sky rocket while they cover it all up. The annual performance of the retirement funds should calculated after the billions of dollars of fleecing has been perpetrated.

[@dakprescott4prez181]

Walter Kiel So, we should give it to Wall Street... Remember the Savings & Loan scandal???

[@targetthenarcissist3628]

Bailouts were wrong before and now. Gotta stop it at some point.

[@hvacman2009]

you're leading the witness

[@us-unclesam6566]

Cut active city workers, including elect officials pay by 60%same as retirees....these cut will stop overnight.

[@robertfrisbie4785]

This is just sad, and I work in the private-sector. See, it is easy to say that the pensions are too high and/or unrealistic to eventually pay retirees (duh!!), but these people were promised (i.e. a signed contract by the city), but the city Mayor and Councilmen/women (still got their full pension), like the paid off politicians (got their full pension), pension managers (promising an average 7% rate of return, still got their full pension) and yeah (I'll say it) the Italian Mob mislead, lied and let our U.S. Citizen City Workers down by creating a Ponzi Scheme with their retirement (which originated from what country? Italy - what a shocker); unlike most working in the private sector (paying 6.5% for Social Security with an employee match of another 6.5% to our Federal Government, as business owners contribute the full 13%), these city workers/retirees were excluded from contributing to Social Security fund. Now if the unsympathetic private-sector/business owner person can imagine: You work in the private-sector for 30+ years, save little in your 401k (currently 54% of Baby Boomers have less than $25,000 saved for retirement) and you are "promised" to receive a Social Security Income of $2,000 per month at 62 years old (that's only $24,000/year), and then suddenly our government says ("Oh Well, we mismanaged the fund") and now your Social Security will be reduced 60% and your new monthly income is $800?

[@cardiackidjones2848]

Ask the Mayor of the city to take a reduction in wage 60%?

[@Pfsif]

Show us the double and triple dippers into the Pension, you know the politicians.

[@fifthavenuegirl]

They broke their promise. That is not right. Some state workers make way too much the CEA types and prison employees - psychologists, etc. make WAY too much. University administrators as well. It's the middle level that should not suffer because of these greedy assholes. And how come the legislators vote on their own pay raises? Legislators NEVER suffer through budget crises. There should be a cap on retirement for six figure employees.

[@pwk22]

If you're familiar with, 'leading the witness', has there ever been a more egregious example than this reporter? 'It seems CalPERS and the city did you wrong. Do you agree?'

[@papaeli123]

Unions donate/support candidates who will give the state/city employees over the top benefits. Any politician/candidate that goes against them will suffer and lose. Time to start trimming the benefits to something reasonable even if a past politician gave away the farm to stay in power.

[@mamalion9677]

Why did they (the city) leave the state pensions?

[@annawarner1078]

stop public employees pension fraud.

[@davidsine4390]

Quit using the word CITY, and use the correct reference, TAXPAYERS. Those 5 people on the City council aren't paying her retirement. When they do, she can receive her full benefits again with my blessing.

[@ddellwo]

This might be the WORST interview I have ever seen - brutal!

[@camman6912]

My pension fund is in the red Although its private I do worry the same thing will happen to me eventually

[@ethicalbro]

60% of $48,000 is $28,800. She is 85 and now has to live on $19,200 per year!!