As I wrote previously, there is a dispute among Generation Greed as to how to diminish the quality of life and standard of living of younger generations, and the future of the state, to pay for rich and long retirements they have promised themselves. Some want cut the pay and benefits of new workers relative to those who came before, while presumably allowing all public employees, including those with sweeter deals, to do a less good job in exchange. Others want to defer the cost of all those special pension deals and favors to the future, forcing future taxpayers to pay for them, preferably at a time when Generation Greed is drawing retirement income, which is exempt from state and local income taxes in New York. Simply not paying the cost of the pensions until later is the choice advanced by Comptroller DiNapoli, and it was evidently passed by the New York State Assembly without any public debate about its fairness some time ago. But yesterday there was a surprise.
Yesterday I was shocked to read that the State Senate voted the deal down. Is it because the majority were suddenly concerned about running up even more off the books debts at the expense of the future? Is it because the Senators wore worried about what the future holds for the next generation? Is it because they are worried that at some point younger generations will move away en masse to get a better deal, not just their own children, leaving no one to pay the pensions?
No. According to the Daily News, the deal was voted down because the Senators were pissed off at DiNapoli for withholding their pay during the recent farce up in Albany. They didn’t even care what they were voting against, just as the Assembly didn’t care what they were voting for. Their own little deal, their own little piece, is all they care about. I was almost ready to write something nice about the SOBs.
Expect this deal, and many others like it, to pass in the next few years, all to pay for the entitlements of Generation Greed at the expense of the future. Because they can. They also expect to be allowed to rationalize these deals as the result of "circumstances beyond their control." That is a lie that will be challenged here, if not elsewhere.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/07/11/2009-07-11_payback_for_pay_freeze_controllers_bill_is_only_nay_of_the_day_as_pols_exact_rev.html
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/the_paterson_vs_dinapoli_pension_disagreement.html