Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning

[swag]

Source: New York Times

By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.

Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.

Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport.

Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

[derby378]

1. Who's the Democratic candidate for Congress to represent that district?

Or, if there's already a Democratic incumbent, can we have a little chat with this person?

[tsuki]

7. Joe Bonner is the Rep, I am pretty sure. And he's a pull yourself up

by your own strap on GOPer.

[derby378]

8. The use of the term "strap on" is rather apropos here

Because a bunch of pensioners in Alabama just got &@%!ed over something fierce.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Welcome to Yeronyerownistan!

This is the result of listening to the conservatives & libertarians who keep bleating about how all taxes are bad, thinking that the magical pension fairy (along with the allied social services fairy and infrastructure fairy) would pick up the slack.

[Roland99]

4. Oh, but the pensions would have been just fine if the markets didn't crash 2 yrs ago. Aaannnnddd...

we all know that the fault of that crash was Fannie and Freddie lending money out to the poor who couldn't afford homes and to minorities who are shifty with their credit.



:sarcasm:

[sarcasmo]

6. Royallyscrewedistan.

[NNN0LHI]

11. I never hear any conservatives or libertarians complain about state or local taxes around here

Most of them either are themselves or have a family member collecting a salary or pension off those taxes.

Only taxes the conservatives or libertarians around here complain about are federal taxes.

Try testing it on one sometime. I have an aunt who all she does is complain about taxes and Democrats. But when you mention property taxes she turns white as a ghost and changes the subject because she has a son who is a fireman and doesn't want him bothering her for money. My aunt is your typical teabagger.

Try it one sometime. You will see.

Don

[aquart]

3. Negligent homicide. Depraved indifference to human life.

File charges against all the city administrators. This is a criminal not civil offense.

[Beavker]

5. How many of the effected citizens voted for GOP?

I'm guessing many. Their elected officials got what they wanted. No more sucking from the Gubmint teat, and they are starving to death.

USA!

[bluestate10]

9. And they keep voting republican. F them. nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. Prichard is 85% African-American and votes Democratic. (nm)