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Cut government pensions
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Posted on Feb 23 2009
I’m nobody, and have only been living here for 14 years, so my thoughts don’t count for much, but here’s my two-cents worth anyway: I think that the Retirement Fund ought to cut all current pensions by 40 or 50 percent, until they get back on their feet (if they ever do). In this way, they could avoid going broke, and pensioners then getting nothing. Better to get 50 or 60 percent—temporarily—than nothing at all forever.
At the same time, this would allow the Fund to accommodate newly eligible retirees, while at the same time still building up their investment portfolio, thereby inching their way back to solvency.
Sorry, all you folks already drawing pensions, but like I say, it’s better to take less for now, than start getting nothing—forever—in three to five years.
Either that, or perhaps our Legislature could get Mr. Sablan, our new Washington Delegate, to prevail upon the U.S. Congress to bring our Retirement Fund under U.S. Social Security—a plan whereby SS would take over all of the fund’s assets, in exchange for us being “bought-in” to the system. After that, should the employer (the CNMI government) chose not to remit their full, legal, by-law contribution share to SS each month (as they have been doing with the Fund, all of these years), they would be in violation of federal law.
[B]Ron Mandell[/B] [I]Gualo Rai, Saipan[/I]
