For the
non-government workers reading this, imaging if you would that you had a 401k
program where you worked. You made
payments into this retirement fund, and your employer made matching
payments. This money is for your
retirement, and you spent your career relying on it to support yourself and
family once you retire. Years go by, and
your 401k plan is looking good; really good.
Now imagine if you would that your employer decided that they wanted to
pay for a totally unrelated program or project, and decided, without telling
you, that they used your 401k to pay for it.
When you do take note of the “withdrawal”, you are told “don’t worry, we
will put it back”, but they never do. In
fact, not only to they not put it back, but they stop making the matching
payments. And to top it off, they blame
YOU, and tell you that you need to put in more money. Sounds idiotic, doesn’t it? This is what your government has been doing
for years.
Remember
the Enron scandal? When discrepancies
were first discovered, the CEO Jeffrey Skilling verbally attacked the Wall Street
analyst who questioned “unusual accounting practices” in an attempt to distract
from the fact that Skilling knew exactly what was going on. Governor Christie, our CEO, is verbally
attacking the Police & Fire pension union and members in an attempt to
distract the public from the fact that he and his predecessors are to blame. This should be called “Pension-gate” to go
along with bridge-gate.
I was a
police officer for 25 years, and always made my pension payments; first paying
8.5% of my yearly salary into the pension system, and then later, when the
governor changed the amount, I paid 10% into the pension system. All the while, the state and municipalities
were supposed to be making the same payments.
We all know these matching payments were not paid as required by law.
To see
where this pension fund disaster began, we need a short history lesson. Governor Christie did not start this mess,
but he continues to perpetuate the revolving door of politicians who
systematiclally raid our pension fund to pay for other shortfalls. I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of
Governor Whitman for starting this fiasco.
When she was elected to lead our state, the pension fund was well funded
with over 100 billion dollars. Yes,
billion; with a B. This was our money,
and not funds allocated for any other resource.
Governor Whitman began taking money from this pension fund without so
much as asking. She simply took it to
pay for various items, including balancing the state budget. The pension fund was so well funded that she
permitted the state and municipalities to stop making their required matching
pension payments, but she did not permit the members; the men and women it was
meant to help, to stop making their payments.
Billions of dollars were not paid into the pension system by the
governments, but like good little soldiers, we kept making our 8.5% payments
without missing a beat. The government
payments which were “deferred” were supposed to be made up later. Smart towns realized this and put money away
in something like an escrow account, to be used to make the payments later. Most towns did nothing except to use that
money for other purposes, leaving themselves open for future problems when they
had to repay the money. Who do you think
the government blamed when they were eventually told to make their
payments? They blamed the pension fund
and the members of the unions of course.
Governor
Whitman was not the only one to raid the pension fund. Each and every Governor has followed suit, including
Governor Christie. The pension raids
were done routinely, causing the fund to dwindle. Governor Corzine was the one who told the
towns it was time to put back the deferred payments. The towns that did not prepare for this day
were in for sticker shock. They now had
to make up the missed payments to the tune of billions of dollars
collectively. Towns couldn’t afford to
make the payments if they failed to sock the money away, so the only way to
raise the money was to raise taxes. Who did they blame for this? They blamed the pension system; the evil and despicable
police and fire union members who diligently made their payments while the municipalities
were given a temporary reprieve.
Governor Christie, you are a bold faced liar. When you first ran for office, you made a promise to the Police & Fire union IN WRITING because you wanted our vote. The unions backed you after you published this letter:
click to enlarge
Let me
quote Governor Christie. “It is a sacred
trust. Nothing will change for the
pension of current officers, future officers or retirees in a Christine
Administration”. Governor Christie put
this in writing and published it for the world to see. He did this to gain the support of a block of
voters, and it worked. We believed in him
and supported him based upon a lie. He lied to us then and he is lying to you
now.
