So, I have me some internets again, and I decided to write a blog post yesterday, which apparently, wasn't one of my best efforts. I read it again, and unless you were either at both places I was over the weekend, it read like a bunch of random thoughts from your drunk uncle.
The point was good at the end. How I got there, well, sorry about that. I was tired. I'm always tired lately. I think the pain is starting to take a physical toll on me.
At any rate, my point was that as weird as we find church, no matter the setting, the point isn't the atmosphere as much as it is about worshipping God. Sometimes it involves theater. Sometimes you just notice things that seem odd, but probably really don't matter. And sometimes, the carpets and drapes clash.
Such is life.
I woke up today with other things on my mind. I have been counting down the years to retirement and this morning, I found out that "Make America great again" wants to change my retirement benefit, starting in 2018. That change would force me to work to age 62, instead of retiring at 56.
The thing is this: This isn't a charity, my retirement. It's a benefit I worked for. It's factored into what I'm paid, and I have been promised this benefit for 29 years. And now, MAGA wants to take it away, to take away any COLA for my pension, to have me contribute an additional 6% per year to said retirement, and to factor my retirement benefit on my high 5 years of salary instead of the high 3 years. Those things hurt, especially coming in at the 11th hour.
I'm all about changing things. If this is something that needs changed, then change it for those who are newly hired. It's part of the deal, so if you choose to accept that deal, then you know what you have to plan for. And let us alone, who have planned on what we earned. These kinds of changes for anyone over 40, well that's just mean.
I look at what MAGA wants to cut, and it seems to me that the only real beneficiaries are the wealthy. I mean that. Farmers lose. Working poor people lose. The disabled lose. Federal employees lose.
I know real budgets seldom look like what the president proposes, but I'm really worried about these proposals. Far beyond my own skin, but I know a lot of people who would be hurt by this budget.
So we'll see. And as you think about this, understand that the Federal Government is the single largest employer in Northern Utah. And that money we have to pay into our retirements, well, that's money we don't have to spend. Our raises barely outpace the growth of our healthcare premiums, so that's money that won't be going to the retailers in the area; the small restaurants, the stores that employ others, the car dealerships, etc.....
That doesn't just hurt me. It hurts all of us. Don't believe me? Look at what two weeks of furlough did to the local economy a few years ago.
The point was good at the end. How I got there, well, sorry about that. I was tired. I'm always tired lately. I think the pain is starting to take a physical toll on me.
At any rate, my point was that as weird as we find church, no matter the setting, the point isn't the atmosphere as much as it is about worshipping God. Sometimes it involves theater. Sometimes you just notice things that seem odd, but probably really don't matter. And sometimes, the carpets and drapes clash.
Such is life.
I woke up today with other things on my mind. I have been counting down the years to retirement and this morning, I found out that "Make America great again" wants to change my retirement benefit, starting in 2018. That change would force me to work to age 62, instead of retiring at 56.
The thing is this: This isn't a charity, my retirement. It's a benefit I worked for. It's factored into what I'm paid, and I have been promised this benefit for 29 years. And now, MAGA wants to take it away, to take away any COLA for my pension, to have me contribute an additional 6% per year to said retirement, and to factor my retirement benefit on my high 5 years of salary instead of the high 3 years. Those things hurt, especially coming in at the 11th hour.
I'm all about changing things. If this is something that needs changed, then change it for those who are newly hired. It's part of the deal, so if you choose to accept that deal, then you know what you have to plan for. And let us alone, who have planned on what we earned. These kinds of changes for anyone over 40, well that's just mean.
I look at what MAGA wants to cut, and it seems to me that the only real beneficiaries are the wealthy. I mean that. Farmers lose. Working poor people lose. The disabled lose. Federal employees lose.
I know real budgets seldom look like what the president proposes, but I'm really worried about these proposals. Far beyond my own skin, but I know a lot of people who would be hurt by this budget.
So we'll see. And as you think about this, understand that the Federal Government is the single largest employer in Northern Utah. And that money we have to pay into our retirements, well, that's money we don't have to spend. Our raises barely outpace the growth of our healthcare premiums, so that's money that won't be going to the retailers in the area; the small restaurants, the stores that employ others, the car dealerships, etc.....
That doesn't just hurt me. It hurts all of us. Don't believe me? Look at what two weeks of furlough did to the local economy a few years ago.
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