Ah, Socialsm!

Re: beautiful, just friggin' beautiful

Cal Berkeley activist testing tree house living Cuzzin Ricky enjoying a bit of schadenfreudeal glee.  -- “ The city of Berkeley may be trapped in what multiple officials have called an "unsustainable" pensions program that will cost the city millions of dollars to escape beginning June 2011. At a special budget presentation to members of the Berkeley City Council Feb. 9, city officials expressed concern-but little surprise-that maintaining the current level of employee retirement benefits could bury the city even deeper into deficit. "There is a growing recognition among public managers that the current system is not financially sustainable," the report accompanying the presentation reads. "We know that (fiscal year) 2012 will bring higher retirement costs to the city-adding significant costs to the General Fund and all other funds." Under the program, non-safety workers who retire at age 55 receive annual payouts of 2.7 percent of their salaries for every year worked. Pensions for city safety workers are calculated on a different scale-3 percent at age 50-but cap out at 90 percent of an individual's salary. For other public employees, however, there is no cap on how high the pensions can go. For example, Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz, who has worked for the city for 35 years, would receive 94.5 percent of his $232,020 salary plus benefits if he were to retire this year, according to city documents. [continue Pensions Program May Cause Deficit to Balloon] ” Oh my.