porky little keg
MuscleHead
- May 21, 2011
- 1,225
- 647
The pensions are paid in to from the teacher's checks AND they are getting cut badly. What used to be a retirement with 80% at 60 is now 60% at 67 and they are pushing for 72. Can you imagine a 72 year old trying to lead a class? The state spent the money that the teachers paid in and are hosing the teachers in my state ( yours may vary)...
As for state workers being paid minimum wage - would you want your kids to be taught by someone who is only worth minimum wage?
"Here guys, go through 5 years of school ( 4+student teaching) and maybe you can be the scapegoat for the country's problems and make as much as the kid who can't assemble a cheeseburger properly"
PillarofBalance
Strength Pimp
- Feb 27, 2011
- 17,066
- 4,640
I think sometimes it's tough for teachers because there are quite a few bad apples that really spoil the whole bunch. And some of the tactics I see the union use in my own community are pretty nasty. They tend to eat their young and they resist any attempt at merit based pay. A general service pay scale shouldn't be used in schools IMO.
Having said that I don't know anyone who goes into teaching to be a grouch and treat kids like shit. And they don't do it for the money either. Or the retirement. They do it to teach.
JR Ewing
MuscleHead
- Nov 9, 2012
- 1,329
- 420
I know people in all 3 occupations. They get a retirement plan subsidized by tax dollars in my state - they cannot "lose" on the actual value of their investments within their plans. They make the greater of the market value increase of their investments within the plan, or a guaranteed minimum the state pays them when their investments underperform. Try finding that in the private sector.
You shouldn't be expecting to make a huge salary working for the govt IMO. Teachers, firemen, policemen, and others are no doubt performing important services. But as long as they're being paid by taxpayers, they shouldn't expect to be getting rich - particularly when you have a high unemployment rate, low labor participation rate, other govt spending out of control, a fragile and sluggish economic environment, etc.
If they want to make 6 figures or more - with at least some likely sacrifice of the great benefits, govt subsidized retirement plans, and lifetime pensions they already get - they should get out of public service and go into the private sector.
I'm motivated by greed, not job security or the desire to serve and / or protect my fellow citizens. So a career govt was not something I ever seriously considered. Of course nowadays greed IS becoming a fitting motivator for those in govt, unfortunately.
JR Ewing
MuscleHead
- Nov 9, 2012
- 1,329
- 420
I was being a little sarcastic, but I knew many moons ago that I should work in the private sector rather than civil service due to my desire to get as rich as possible.
Teachers and other state workers in my state have a retirement plan better than any I've come across in the private sector, and I've made a good chunk of my living rolling over retirement plans.
I have a similar view of these things in the private sector as well. I don't believe a public coompany CEO should be making 8 or even 7 figures if the company is losing money and the stock price is in the toilet. They should be earning most (if not all) of their comp from a little of the companies' profits as bonuses, company stock appreciation, and perhaps some gifting of stock and options as earned bonuses. I don't think they should get a 7 figure base salary in general. Jobs and Iacocca took salaries of $1 at Apple and Chrysler.
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