Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Member Group : Lincoln Institute

The question is: who doesn’t? That resonating sound of a one followed by 6 zeroes is the life long journey of many and today many can accomplish it.

There’s lots of ways. The traditional American method of saving and investing all of one’s life. Work hard, put it away and retire in ease. But then family comes along, housing, medical care, college and the assorted costs associated put a dent in that big hope for a millionaire’s nest egg.

Then there’s my pension plan: the long shot. Buy Pennsylvania lottery tickets all the time and hope one of them has the magic number. Hopefully two or more digits followed by 6 zeroes will put me in clover during my retirement years even after the governments are done whacking it.

Then there’s the easy way: go to work for a government. Work for just about any government and soon after you retire you can hit the big numbers.

Last year USA Today reported, with hardly of ripple of response, that the average federal employee, accounting for pensions and benefits, now makes twice as much as a private sector counterpart. Hardly startling given the rich role of public employees’ unions and the ability to just tax away the private sector to pay for it all.

But to really hit the big numbers you want to be elected to something like Philadelphia City Council. Its infamous Deferred Retirement Option Plan known as DROP should be dropped. Under this egregious assault on taxpayers council members can retire for a day, collect a lump payout then go back to work and collect a pension again when they retire. Council members rack up the bucks. Anna Verna gets $538,000; Marian Tasco $478,000 and Frank DiCicco just over $400,000.

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly isn’t a bad deal either. Former Senator Robert Mellow is scheduled to receive $330,000 a year for the rest of his life. Former State Representative Frank Oliver will chalk up $19,000 a month in addition to medical, dental vision, drug and long term care benefits.

Those kinds of dollars will buy you some Florida sunshine very comfortably.

While politicians win the game of who wants to be a millionaire, the rest of us are paying for it. A lot of the financial crisis in this country can be blamed on bloated public employees’ pension.

In Pennsylvania our new governor has a mandate for reform. If he starts with pensions then cuts taxes, someday we could all, well, be millionaires.

Albert Paschall is Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, a non-profit educational foundation with offices in Harrisburg and King Of Prussia. Somedays is syndicated to leading newspapers and radio stations through out Pennsylvania. He began his career as a proof boy at the Times Herald. [email protected]

Who wants to be a millionaire?
By Albert Paschall

The question is: who doesn’t? That resonating sound of a one followed by 6 zeroes is the life long journey of many and today many can accomplish it.

There’s lots of ways. The traditional American method of saving and investing all of one’s life. Work hard, put it away and retire in ease. But then family comes along, housing, medical care, college and the assorted costs associated put a dent in that big hope for a millionaire’s nest egg.

Then there’s my pension plan: the long shot. Buy Pennsylvania lottery tickets all the time and hope one of them has the magic number. Hopefully two or more digits followed by 6 zeroes will put me in clover during my retirement years even after the governments are done whacking it.

Then there’s the easy way: go to work for a government. Work for just about any government and soon after you retire you can hit the big numbers.

Last year USA Today reported, with hardly of ripple of response, that the average federal employee, accounting for pensions and benefits, now makes twice as much as a private sector counterpart. Hardly startling given the rich role of public employees’ unions and the ability to just tax away the private sector to pay for it all.

But to really hit the big numbers you want to be elected to something like Philadelphia City Council. Its infamous Deferred Retirement Option Plan known as DROP should be dropped. Under this egregious assault on taxpayers council members can retire for a day, collect a lump payout then go back to work and collect a pension again when they retire. Council members rack up the bucks. Anna Verna gets $538,000; Marian Tasco $478,000 and Frank DiCicco just over $400,000.

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly isn’t a bad deal either. Former Senator Robert Mellow is scheduled to receive $330,000 a year for the rest of his life. Former State Representative Frank Oliver will chalk up $19,000 a month in addition to medical, dental vision, drug and long term care benefits.

Those kinds of dollars will buy you some Florida sunshine very comfortably.

While politicians win the game of who wants to be a millionaire, the rest of us are paying for it. A lot of the financial crisis in this country can be blamed on bloated public employees’ pension.

In Pennsylvania our new governor has a mandate for reform. If he starts with pensions then cuts taxes, someday we could all, well, be millionaires.

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Albert Paschall is Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, a non-profit educational foundation with offices in Harrisburg and King Of Prussia. Somedays is syndicated to leading newspapers and radio stations through out Pennsylvania. He began his career as a proof boy at the Times Herald. [email protected]