One thought on “Teacher pension funds”

  1. For those who don’t click to watch, in IL teachers pay 9.4% of their salary into the IL teachers’ pension fund. Their school districts pay .58% into the fund. This may vary by state, so it might behoove us to learn how it’s set up in our own states. Anyone know how it works in any states outside IL??

    OK, once more with feeling: Teachers pay 9.4% of their salaries into the pension fund. Always.

    Districts pay .58%. Yes, just over 1/2 of one percent. Always, I think, but may be wrong.

    It all goes to IL state government to be invested by the pension fund.

    Except, as the teacher notes, when the state decides to use the pension monies for current expenses. “When they forget” to pay into the pension fund.

    The state gets “behind,” and then cries poverty years and interest earnings later.

    Where the hell have our great reporters and editorialists been on making this clear to the public?

    Why isn’t this part of every article on stories about attackes on “high teachers’ pensions”?

    Oh, yeah, because the PTB OWN our vaunted free press.

    (I’m not as comfortable about the point the teacher makes when saying today SocSec potential recipients are “only” paying 4% into the SS trust fund and employers still pay 6.2%: that was a political decision taken by Obama for some pittance of stimulus. But the important point is that SS gets equal amounts from both employee and employer; teachers’ pensions are paid for almost entirely by by teachers –94%.)

    One more point: In many ways that’s how private pensions worked as well. Instead of salary increases, the employer would offer more for the future pensions of their employees. But, like the state of IL, sometines an employer would choose to not put monies into the fund, but would delay payments to use the money for something else. That became the norm, alas. When the employers saw they would have to make up for that shortfall, they began to look for other solutions. 401K to the rescue…of the employers, not the employees. Please correct me if I’m wrong. End game was getting rid of defined benefit pensions.)

    Why don’t we have any Dem pols who CAN EXPLAIN THESE THINGS TO THE PUBLIC?

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