Retirement

     I joke that my retirement plan is to run out of breath and money at the same time (a great line stolen from the late Tommy Charles "T.C." of Birmingham Radio fame, who for all I know, stole it from someone else.)
     These days I barely open my 401k statements, knowing that The Great Recession has shredded them the same as it did most of the rest of the economy.

     The retirement plans of government employees weren't spared, though some are fairing better than others. But their retirment checks come with a guarentee. My 401k's are free to fall as low as they may (and have!).
     The PEW Center released a report early this year comparing the States' plans, and Alabama fared worse than I would have thought, what with David Bronner running things over at RSA.
     A NY Times column this morning refers to the mounting debt to pay for retired government workers' pensions as a coming "war"..a "class war", nonetheless.
     Presumably, in Alabama, that means The RSA and the State Employees' Association on one side, and the non-government workers on the other side of the battlelines.
     Birmingham News reporter Dave White raised an alarm about the issue this week too, reporting that it will be after fisal year 2012 when the system's actuarial figures hit the fan, so to speak.
     There are good arguments to be made by both camps about keeping the state's commitment to the retired teachers and other workers, but the end message of the Times column is this: cooperate or else.