[Vette_Newb]

What I want to know, about renegotiation's.. is how they plan to pay for what will effectively be 3 of each member, once all the retirement pensions kick in?

Soak the taxpayer, more. I just don't see that happening.. then you will see "Change you can believe in".

 

[ChasC5]

and people dont see the problem with unions....:huh:

We give Athletes crap when they don’t honor contracts … right?

I say, Honor your contract, but don’t make another contract if you can’t afford it … simple. :thumbsup:

 

[Texdentist]

We give Athletes crap when they don’t honor contracts … right?

I say, Honor your contract, but don’t make another contract if you can’t afford it … simple. :thumbsup:

With a company, the dynamics are easy. You honor the contract as long as you can, but if you will go out of business trying to honor it, you have bankruptcy available to force renegotiation. With government, there is no going out of business or bankruptcy. The expectation is that you will keep raising taxes to cover contracts. But at some point, the taxpayers revolt. They can demand votes on taxes and refuse to ante up. As these retirement shortfalls cause more and more pain on cities, there will be more voter backlash.

 

[ChasC5]

With a company, the dynamics are easy. You honor the contract as long as you can, but if you will go out of business trying to honor it, you have bankruptcy available to force renegotiation. With government, there is no going out of business or bankruptcy. The expectation is that you will keep raising taxes to cover contracts. But at some point, the taxpayers revolt. They can demand votes on taxes and refuse to ante up. As these retirement shortfalls cause more and more pain on cities, there will be more voter backlash.

I beleive we (Tax Payers) shouldn't force renegotiation.

 

[Vette_Newb]

They can demand votes on taxes and refuse to ante up. As these retirement shortfalls cause more and more pain on cities, there will be more voter backlash.

Not necessarily voter, but definitely taxpayer backlash. There aren't enough jails for all of them...

 

[Texdentist]

I beleive we (Tax Payers) shouldn't force renegotiation.

I would like to agree, but no one can foresee future economic problems like we now have when negtiating contracts. Cities and states make their agreements based on projections of interest rates and tax revenues. No one saw the dramatic drop in home property values (trillions) coming with it's associated drop in property tax revenue. At some point, I do believe you have to go back and say we must have a more realistic contract. You can't pay these kinds of exorbitant benefits if the money simply isn't there. Generally speaking, the give/take is that if the union refuses to renegotiate in good faith, the next time the contract is due, it will be hardball with major cutbacks. If they agree to a renegotiation now, the gloves will be kept on and they will try to reach agreement that benefits everyone.