...and not one of them ever paid a dime into social security.....all 30,000 los angeles city employees are exempt from social security taxes

Not bad for a high school education.

sooner or later the craziness of the public sector pension including congress will collapse of its own unsustainability.

What I find interesting is that during the mid-1980's when private sector employment was making "excessive" in comparison salaries and pension benefits. Public sector employees struggled and made megger wages and working conditions with the only carrot being the pension in 25-30 years if they survived to that age. Now that the tides have turned on private sector jobs and benefits have gone down and jobs have become less obtainable, you want to hammer public employees and blame them for your lot in life? We have progressed to being able to findly live among those we serve. We have taken the reduced income for the security of living on a public retirement for a job well done...like many successful private sector managers. Your $100,000 club isn't any different than mid-level and senior managers from successful companies. The titles of those listed were senior managers and some mid-level managers of large successful public entities that have done a commendable job. No different than their counterparts in the private sector...so please be fair when comparing pensions of public vs private...It wasn't always this way. It's about time that public safety whether police or fire, were able to enjoy a finacially sound retirement for they have endured.

Great idea from "happy city employee"; we should all go to work for the City or some other public entity/employer. Then we wouldn't have anymore private sector employers paying the taxes to help pay for our pensions! Brilliant....

All I hear is bitterness and jealousy from those who are not City employees. No one forced you to take a job in the private sector. Anyone may work for the City. Just take a Civil Service exam, pass the exam, and rank high enough on the list to get hired. We put in our time just like the private sector. 30 years later we receive a nice pension that we paid into over the course of our careers.

All I hear is bitterness and jealousy from those who are not City employees. No one forced you to take a job in the private sector. Anyone may work for the City. Just take a Civil Service exam, pass the exam, and rank high enough on the list to get hired. We put in our time just like the private sector. 30 years later we receive a nice pension that we paid into over the course of our careers.

To begin with all so called public servants should be limited to receiving only one pension eliminating double dipping this includes Police Chiefs Council members Mayors Governors etc. Firemen have been at the trough for longer than anyone the first boondogle was getting the rediculas work schedule where they are on call the majority of their shift and only have to go to the fire house which allows them the luxery of living out of the area. It alsoallows them to sleep, study for upcomming promotional exams, and manage their side businesses from the fire house while being very generosly paid by the city. The Police, Firemen and teachers have been able to wangle outragous pay and benefit packages by allowing the unions to sell their support to the politition who will best support them in the next round of contract barganing. Even LA's Mayor and City Council members should realize what a cherry job the y have when a thousand or more applicants show up for any oppening. Many cities throughout the country still have volunteer Fire Departments and do very well with very little cost and they have actual HERO'S not just highly paid mercenaries,but of course they are manned by citizens that live in the towns they service. As for life expectancy the police probably should get hazzard pay depending on the area they work but I know any number of old retired firemen living the good life at taxpayer expense and they contributed almost nothing when you compare what they receive.

Get off the public sector... who put 30 years of their lives on the line to serve and protect you.... Look to the private sector, the Savings and Loans, etc., who took money from you... and put us in a recession.

Public pensions, double and triple-dipping, health costs by public employees and teachers WILL be the death knell of California's city, county and state budgets. Already well underway.

[color=#000000][/color] Money well spent. These Fire and Police Veterans have served the City of Los Angeles well. Thank you for your service.

Firefighter, Same old BS argument. You did pay some in, but maybe only 10% worth what you are getting paid out. Calpers lied, their 10 year rate of return is just over 2%. As for dying and early death. It may be a few years earlier than average, but from an statistical/actuarial standpoint it is almost insignificant these days. I say these days, because it was true in the past but not so much any more.

I have an idea... Why don't we make another police fund... But this one let's make it big... Big to pay for every police excesive use of force when they beat up someone and the case ends up in a huge lawsuit. In this fund we garnish part of their checks so we can pay for these lawsuits.... because as of now they get to beat people and citizens get the bill. Bunch of over-rated speculators if you ask me...

Amazing that they get pensions like this. They only had to pay into the system for 30+ years while fighting fires and being shot at. Not to mention the fact that they die an early death due to all the exposures of the job. If you think you can do the job try out.

[quote=Guest User]First, They are only consistent with other CALIFORNIA agencies, which all happen to be insolvent. NOT A COINCIDENCE. Watch in the future as the number of retires receiving over 100k goes parabolic. Right now there is only one Sergeant on the list. Assuming LA does not go bankrupt in the next few years, and that a big if, you will start to see many regular officers on that list.[/quote] I totally agree. That still doesn't change the fact that these packages were approved by the Voters. Although they were negotiated by the Unions and politicans, they can only be implemented if the Voters approve of them.

First, They are only consistent with other CALIFORNIA agencies, which all happen to be insolvent. NOT A COINCIDENCE. Watch in the future as the number of retires receiving over 100k goes parabolic. Right now there is only one Sergeant on the list. Assuming LA does not go bankrupt in the next few years, and that a big if, you will start to see many regular officers on that list.

Let's keep in mind that ALL of the benefits these people enjoy were approved by the [color=#FF0000]Voters of L.A.[/color] They are generous, but they are consistent with what other agencies are offering their police and firefighters.

Let's keep in mind that ALL of the benefits these people enjoy were approved by the [color=#FF0000]Voters of L.A.[/color] They are generous, but they are consistent with what other agencies are offering their police and firefighters.

Ron will remember this. About 20, 25 years ago, then West Valley District 3 Councilwoman Joy Picus, had the cajones to stand up to the unions in an attempt to reform the police and fire pensions. She took a ton of heat, and was even picketed by police officers in front of her office and at an appearance at the Calabasas Inn where she was the guest of honor at a luncheon. Even back then, when times were good and L.A. was a much nicer place, she saw the future and fought to prevent what is happening now. At the time, the pension reform she wanted seemed unnecessary and Draconian. A compromise was reached. Officers already hired would get their pensions as agreed to when they were hired; new hires would come under the less generous new pension system and could not retire after 20 years, but had to work much longer to receive their full pensions. Two-and-a-half decades later here we are with a broken pension system. Picus was far from the perfect councilwoman, but imagine how bad it would be if she hadn't fought for what she thought was right and what she saw on the horizon.

Is bankruptcy a possible solution? Is it possible that the County can declare insolvency and go into bankruptcy to wipe out all these liabilities? I know that is not possible at the State level but what about County and City level? We can’t afford to keep rewarding these life-time bureaucrats when the rest of us mortals are going through such difficult economic times!

Lets just put this in perspective: to fund the retirement of these 286 people WITHOUT figuring in Cost of Living adjustments will cost the city 480,000,000 or half a billion dollars over their retirement.

This is just one more egregious example of the disconnection between government and the rest of us which has afflicted civilizations since the development of agriculture. The imbalances in Influence Capability that continually create this sort of distortion relate to problems of scale, the loss of congruence between the social network and the social organism, the vital role of various forms of proximity, the foundations and limits of biological altruism, and perhaps most importantly, a failure to address these issues. Or perhaps more accurately, a tendency over time, by a dominant social network, to actively resist their being addressed in any meaningful way. These problems can be addressed. But an issue-by-issue approach to their solution will be never ending. (e.g. the root of this problem is the same which created our dysfunctional investment industry which primarily serves itself and the decision-making class it relies on.) I realize this may all seem a bit esoteric, but there are actually practical ways to improve this situation. At least, that's what I've been working on. CulturalEngineer.blogspot.com (please forgive repeat comments... I've been having difficulty figuring out this comment system)

What's most discouraging is that this isn't at all surprising.

What about the rest? LA City, LAUSD, Sheriff, County? How many spiked their pension in the last year?

I had no idea retired public employees got so much money when they retired. I think they should save all their lives for retirement and they should get closer to what other Americans get who have worked all their lives and paid into Social Security.