The editorial board of the USAToday comes out in favor of military pension cuts in a green-eyed envious opinion piece today, sent to us by Chock Block. Of course, they blame Reagan for our “generous” retirement benefits;
But one big group was largely untouched by Reagan’s overhaul: members of the military. They are still on a plan so generous that it allows them to retire in their late 30s or early 40s and collect a pension, with cost-of-living increases, for the rest of their lives. This is accompanied by lifetime health coverage whose premium, $460 per year for a family policy, has not risen since 1995 even as costs for everyone else have skyrocketed.
In last month’s bipartisan budget deal, Congress made some wholely defensible trims in military pensions, prompting a howl of complaints from veterans groups.
They protest too much. Way too much. The military pension system is not only extremely generous, it is also counterproductive. It drains defense money from today’s troops and weapons. And while the system encourages some people to consider the military who otherwise might not, it also encourages them to leave early, taking their first-rate training to go double-dip by moving into a civilian government job. In any case, they can collect pensions — intended as old-age protection — in the prime of their working lives.
Yeah, the system is way too generous. When I retired, twenty years ago yesterday, my pension was less than $12,000/year. In those twenty years, the generous COLA increases have brought the generous pension to a little more than $18,000 last year. So yeah, I’m cleaning up. I’d like to see some of the editorial board of the USAToday eat the shit I ate for two decades and settle for $1500/month before taxes. The thing that kept me in the service for twenty years was the FREE medical care I knew I’d need after gobbling down those shit sandwiches everyday. Before I got out, the FREE medical care was gone, but it was at least affordable. But obviously, it’s too affordable – while the Obama Administration and the editorial board of USAToday want lower medical for everyone else in the country, they want raise the medical costs for veterans, as a way of saying “thanks for your service, asshole”.
They want single-payer healthcare for illegal aliens, but screw veterans for expecting the government to keep their promises.
The editorial board of the USAToday continues;
This approach would save taxpayer money and help reach budget targets. It also would discourage people from leaving early after the government has invested so much in them.
The change would also make military pensions less wildly out of line with most Americans’ experience. Private-sector pensions, to the extent that they exist at all, are routinely scaled back or frozen in ways much more dramatic than these changes.
Certainly, protecting veterans impaired by their service is a different sort of issue. But the current system rewards all equally, including the 40% of servicemembers who have never seen a combat zone.
Yeah, suddenly the Left is worried about saving the taxpayers money – I almost believe that. And, oh, yeah, all veterans participated in war in some manner or another. Those who haven’t deployed filled some necessary function that contributed to the war effort, so don’t try to pit combat veterans against POGs with this battle, especially what with you, the editorial board of USAToday, being the most POG in this discussion, you cowardly assholes who rode out the war from behind your glass-topped desks, sniping at the troops every time you had the opportunity. And the sniping continues. Assholes.
