The Northern Kentucky Tea PartyKentucky Commonwealth
22
Apr
2013
The Public Pension Reform Scam
by Legate Damar
Citizens of Kentucky. As of 2012 the State of Kentucky has racked up an unfunded liability of over $34 billion to its public pension system. On March 26, 2013, the state of Kentucky passed a new pension reform bill, which only adds just $100 million of new revenue to the public pension system. Unfortunately this reform hardly puts a dent in the unfunded liability because the state needs an extra $1.1 billion per year to stop increasing unfunded health and pension liability in the state (Pension reform? ‘Hardly,” says Bluegrass Institute scholar, 2013). Listed below are four steps to attaining solvency in our public pension system (Pension reform in four simple steps, 2013):
- Make the pension system transparent. Why shouldn’t taxpayers know which politicians and bureaucrats are collecting two, or in some cases three, pension checks at their expense?
- Move from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. Right now, taxpayers shoulder all the risk in the funding of the public pension system. A defined contribution would split the risk between the taxpayer and the state employee. This would resemble a 401(k)-type savings plan in the private sector.
- Remove all private entities from the state public pension plan, including the Kentucky Education Association, Kentucky Association of Counties, Kentucky League of Cities, and the Commonwealth Credit Union in Frankfort. Why should employees of private entities receive taxpayer funded pensions?
- Legislators are elected to part-time positions. Their overall retirement benefits should be reduced to the same level of other public workers. How many part-time employees do you know that receive retirement benefits?
The tax payers of Kentucky need to stand up and demand that they take some serious steps toward making our public pension system solvent. Otherwise the solution will have to be higher taxes imposed on the tax payers of Kentucky.
Your voice can make a difference today. Make a two minute call now to the Legislator Message Line:
1-800-372-7181
Tell the operator in Frankfort to give your message to all elected officials. Please, you can make your point known in a 2 minute phone call.
YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
7
Apr
2013
Senator Paul and 13 Others Pledge Filibuster
by Politico
Read this article and notice who's name is glaringly absent from the list of senators. Gee...you will not see Senator Mitch McConnell's name anywhere on it. Sen. Rand Paul is threatening to filibuster any new gun restrictions is gathering steam and a dozen of his Republican colleagues have now signed onto his plan. Mitch should be leading this fight instead of being absent from it. Maybe Mitch is emulating Obama and he's leading from the rear? Mitch talks a good line about supporting our second amendment rights but when the fight comes home, he's nowhere to be found. His past and current record shows he does not support the constitution. Time to replace Mitch in 2014! The same article appears here in Politico.
7
Apr
2013
Common Core Meeting
by Anderson Tea Party
The dark nature of the national Common Core Standards are finally coming to light as the implementation of the aligned curriculum is hitting the classrooms of Ohio. This covert, federal takeover of education flew under everyone's radar in 2010 while we were all consumed in the fight against Obamacare. Ohio may be late to the dance, but the official CCS opt out effort has begun and we are kicking it off by bringing in the top national voices on the subject for a two-day, three-event mini tour through Ohio. The first event is in Cincinnati, Friday- April 12th, and the Anderson Tea Party is hosting!
28
Mar
2013
Overspending: the source of Kentucky's pension crisis
by Jim Waters
The soaring cost of public employee pensions in Kentucky has become a major societal issue.
The debate is about more than the security of a retirement livelihood for public servants. The standard of living of all Kentuckians is at stake. Diverting money from essential government services, such as education and public safety, to keep the pension funds solvent is badly draining the budgets of state and local governments.
The state’s six retirement systems have a collective unfunded liability of $33.7 billion, one of the most unsound pension systems in the nation. The Great Recession didn’t cause this overwhelming debt, nor did the failure of the General Assembly in recent years to make its full payments – as claimed by some of those crying out for enactment of Senate Bill 2 as the panacea for all pension woes.
Kentucky’s pension debt is a creature of public policy, not world economic cycles or the state not paying its full employer contributions on time. While market conditions and employer/employee contributions –along with medical inflation, faulty actuarial assumptions and other factors – are cost drivers, Kentucky’s pension crises stems from our state’s political culture.
18
Mar
2013
McConnell Surrenders on Obamacare
by RedState & Atlantic Wire
Mitch McConnell is following John Boehner and decided to give up on fighting Obamacare. In his own words, "When it came to Obamacare, we gave it everything we have, everything we have, and we just lost." What a shame the so called Republican leaders will not lead. Here is what RedState has to say, "Game over until we can replace either McConnell or Boehner and use their defeat as an example."
It is time for liberty minded people to get to work and replace these leaders that will not lead.
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