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Union Fails Pension Math: Part Time-Teacher Set to Earn More in Retirement than She Did While Employed
February 22nd, 2011 - 6:39pm
Filed under Education
By: GN Member Ben Everard
Shortly after the Green Bay Packers turned the nation's attention to the Midwestern state, Wisconsin once again has garnered the nation's attention. At stake this time is not a trophy, but a prized retirement package promised to public employees. Throngs of protesters have taken to Madison, Wisconsin to either show their support or disdain for Governor Scott Walker's plan to require public employees to pay 5.8 percent (the national average is roughly 12 percent) of their salary as a contribution to their pension.
The looming issue of funding public pensions is not unique to Wisconsin. Governor Walker's stand, however, has focused the nation's attention largely because he is the first Republican leader to propose legitimate legislation designed to address the problem head on. The debate in Wisconsin is a precursor to one that will be seen New York, California, Illinois, and dozens of other states. Unfunded liabilities stemming from decades of generous retirement packages for public employees has finally reached the breaking point. Without reform, state fiscal collapse is inevitable. Often lost in the debate is a simple explanation of what exactly the problem is with the system today. Fortunately, a pertinent example helps shed light on the financial precariousness of the situation in Wisconsin, and more importantly, the nation at large.
My mother worked as a public employee when she was a teacher's aide in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She was employed by the state for five years, from 1981-1986. However, she worked only part-time, so was never credited for a full year of employment by the state for each year she worked. Instead, she received only partial credit each year. Fortunately for her, Wisconsin and two other states (Minnesota and South Dakota) allow for full vesting for public teachers after only three years of employment. Using a deduction for her part-time status, Wisconsin determined her creditable service amounted to 3.07 years. Had she worked three weeks less during her last year, she would be entitled to nothing. As luck would have it, she fully vested, and is entitled to receive a monthly check from the state of Wisconsin for the rest of her life.
Like millions of fellow baby boomers, she turns 55 this year. And in Wisconsin, one can elect to draw benefits at age 55. If she retires this year and elects to take her pension, she would receive a check, once a month, for $230. She receives this check for the rest of her life, and, if she predeceases my father, he is entitled to cash the check for the rest of his life.
A meager $230 a month may not sound like much-until you consider the salary she earned when she was employed, and how long she will likely draw her pension. The average life expectancy for women in the United States is roughly 78 years. Assuming my mother has an average life span, she will collect 276 separate checks from the state of Wisconsin for her five years of part-time service. These checks, without adjusting for inflation, amount to $63,480. Of course, in reality, the checks are adjusted upward annually for inflation, so her accumulated payout will be well north of $63,480.
To put things into perspective, consider the salary she drew when she was actually employed. In her final year, she made $7,650. Wisconsin's pension formula averages the highest three years' salary, which for her amounted to $7,072 and $6,191. Over the course of her career as a salaried part-time teacher's aide, she made approximately $35,000.
Thus, for five years of part time service in which she was paid a cumulative total of less than $35,000, she will collect nearly twice that if she has an average life span. She will be paid more money to be retired than she was ever paid by the state of Wisconsin when she was actually employed.
Let us not forget the other tiny detail-she has not lived in Wisconsin for over a quarter century, meaning she has not paid a dime to Wisconsin's tax system in over 25 years. Yet, she is entitled to tens of thousands of dollars in pension benefits for her five years of part-time employment as a teacher's aide.
Her scenario is just the beginning. It represents a tiny sliver of the enormity of the looming financial disaster. Substitute my mother's modest salary with a superintendent of a school district, for example, who was paid over $100,000 per year, and the gravity of the situation is put into proper perspective.
Ultimately, this means the taxpayers of Wisconsin will be paying, not for services, but for retirees. If the state has not woken up to this reality yet, it will. When a 911 call goes unanswered due to lack of emergency personnel on the streets, there will be calls for reform. When public schools cram 40 students into each classroom for a below-average education in an underfunded school district, there will be calls for reform. When checks are no longer issued, there will be calls for reform.
Fortunately, there already are calls for reform. They come from Governor Scott Walker in Madison, Wisconsin. He will not change existing benefits for present retirees. But he is attempting to tackle a ticking time bomb before it explodes. Let us, in the words of our free-spending President, hope, that the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate, who have fled the state to avoid voting on the measure, eventually get the message. They are paid to cast votes. It is time they earn their paycheck. From what I hear, the pay can be quite generous in Wisconsin.
The Post-Islamist Future
February 21st, 2011 - 4:13pm
Filed under International Security
A recent op-ed written by friend of Gen Next Maajid Nawaz
Recent events in Egypt indicate the beginning of the end for the Middle East's fascination with Islamist opposition politics. Egypt's revolution is no deathblow to Islamism-it is not even a debilitating injury. But when thinking in terms of decades-long trends, it is the start of a new intellectual era for the region.
The 1950s and '60s witnessed the rise of pan-Arab socialism. Autocratic strongmen brought in by military coups were the order of the day in Egypt, Syria and beyond. By the 1980s and '90s, there was a fierce explosion in angry Islamism, as seen in the jihadist insurrection in Egypt and the rise of both Hamas and Hezbollah.
But with failed Islamist experiments in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan, the new millennium saw a creeping transition. As I did, the region's young, tech-savvy youth developed new ambitions, away from Islamism and toward secular democratic politics. Democratic activism is the new political fashion.
Naturally, the potential for democracy in Egypt has raised fears that Islamists will take over, establishing a popular yet anti-Western and anti-Israel leadership. Being the most organized opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood is the focus of these fears.
Mohammed BadieAlarmists would have us believe that we are on the brink of another Iran-style Islamist takeover, with the destruction of Israel as its obsession. The complacent, meanwhile, dangerously understate the threat. Interestingly, they are the very same voices who argued as recently as a month ago that the Brotherhood represents the only credible opposition in Egypt. Somewhere in the middle stand reasonable voices calling for critical engagement.
The Brotherhood is still formally committed to some of the more worrying Islamist principles of Hassan al-Banna, who founded the organization in 1928. Its popular rallying cry is "Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our constitution; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations." And it insists that Islam must be the only source of legislation, and that non-Muslims and women cannot become heads of state.
The group's official line, therefore, inspires little confidence, especially as its current leader is the conservative Muhammad Badie (who was a cellmate of mine in 2002, when I was held as a political prisoner in Cairo's Mazra Tora prison). However, with a reformist middle-aged faction-led by another former cellmate of mine, Abdul Monim Aboul Fatouh-and a disillusioned youth, the Brotherhood is certainly no monolith.
United by the popular imperative to remove Hosni Mubarak, the group rarely allowed dissent. Despite this, in 1996 a group of prominent but frustrated younger members broke off, founding Hizb al-Wasat (the Center Party), which included among its founders Christians, unveiled women and non-Islamists. The Brotherhood's old guard reacted dismissively, but it seems that the founders of the Center Party were years ahead of the curve.
Last year, the Brotherhood had heated internal elections and middle-aged reformists were expected to do well. But under shady circumstances, and to the dismay of many frustrated younger members, they lost their seats at the leadership council. Things have never quite been the same.
Many younger Brotherhood activists, including friends of mine who had been jailed and tortured for their affiliation, froze their membership and joined the ranks of Egypt's increasingly bold secular youth activists. The groups included the Egyptian Movement for Change and the April 6th Youth. The effect was that the Brotherhood had to play catch-up when these secular democratic forces led the way in the January 25 uprising. The simple fact is that Egypt's most organized opposition group did not organize Egypt's only people's revolt. In addition, it is clear that the Brotherhood has no Khomeini-like figure capable of hijacking this revolution.
A recent poll by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that Muslim Brotherhood leaders received barely 1% of Egyptians' support for the presidency. Only 7% of respondents believed that "the [Mubarak] regime is not Islamic enough." This suggests that the Brotherhood is likely to win some seats in parliament but unlikely to produce the next president or prime minister of Egypt.
How, then, should policy makers think of the Brotherhood?
In a recent hearing of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asserted that the Brotherhood is a "largely secular" group. Such blunders are grossly counterproductive, as they hinder the clarity of understanding needed to plan for various contingencies, like Islamist ascendancy.
On the other hand, the alarmist approach-taken by many in Israel, for example-would seem to trade long-term regional security for short-term stability. As the former George W. Bush administration official Elliott Abrams remarked, "the Israelis apparently do not see the irony that they are mourning the departure of the man who created the very situation they now fear." (Returning to the recent Washington Institute poll, more Egyptians supported peace with Israel than rejected it, and only 18% approved of either Hamas or Iran.)
British Prime Minister David Cameron and former Prime Minister Tony Blair have taken a more cautious and reasonable approach. In his groundbreaking speech in Munich, Mr. Cameron declared, "I simply don't accept that there's a dead-end choice between a security state and Islamist resistance." And concerning the risk of a Brotherhood takeover, Mr. Blair said that "The truth is I don't know and neither does anybody else. And therefore what I am really saying is, don't be hysterical about it but don't be complacent about it either.
As long as we engage all peaceful opposition forces with our eyes open, Egypt can become a beacon for Arab democracy. Like Turkey's, Egypt's largely secular army is wary of an Islamist takeover. If we can help Egyptians build a democratic society for the first time in their history, we may see the dawn of a new post-Islamist age that transforms political dynamics world-wide. View article.
Mr. Nawaz, a former prisoner of conscience in Egypt, is executive director of Quilliam, a counterextremism think tank in England.
GN Partner Movements.org On Fox News
February 9th, 2011 - 5:15pm
Filed under International Security
Gen Next Member Jason Liebman, Co-Founder of Movements.org provides commentary on the impact of social media in Egypt.
The Loss of Self-Esteem is the Greatest Penalty of Unemployment
February 7th, 2011 - 4:13pm
Filed under Economy
By: Gen Next Member John Ridings Lee
One of the unspoken victims of the current unemployment situation is the effect that being unemployed has on the self-esteem of the worker without a job.
Regardless of the actions of the Federal and State government to extend unemployment benefits and to appear to be sympathetic to unemployed workers, there appears to be no concern over the psyche of the workers. One way this negatively impacts the worker is in the loss of their self-esteem.
Robert Roach, who recently lost his job as Principal of the Heartland Christian Academy in Bemidji, Minnesota, says that the lack of real attention to the issue of unemployment by government makes him - and 15 million other Americans like him - similarly unemployed, feel helpless.
His recent interview for a post as student services coordinator at a technical college found his competition to be 160 other applicants. Even though he holds a degree in chemistry and has no debts other than his home and car, he found out very quickly that he was "over-qualified." He maintains that it isn't just about the economy, it's about self-esteem. For those out of work, it is very easy to feel isolated and alone.
Consider the scope of the unemployment problem:
1. We are still running over 600,000 NEW jobless claims EVERY week.
2. The government continues to UNDER-REPORT the true problem.
3. Those who have given up looking for work aren't counted in any index. At the latest count, their numbers are at 920,000 - almost a million more that should be counted on the unemployment roles.
4. A vast majority of Americans are under-employed, having to take jobs that pay a fraction of what they formerly earned just to keep food on the table.
5. Most of the new jobs created are in the public sector, only adding to our debt burden.
6. The commercial banks are sitting on billions of bail out dollars rather than investing in new equipment or employees.
7. Uncertainty about future government taxes, health care impacts and other government programs are keeping several employers on the sidelines.
8. Major corporations are taking advantage of foreign labor costs and off-shoring many jobs formerly held by Americans. Alan Binder, a Princeton University economist, estimates that 22% to 29% of all current United States jobs will be shipped overseas in the next two decades.
9. Many companies are taking advantage of the vulnerable employees they have and increasing productivity by insisting on longer hours and working days by those who want to stay employed.
10.The annual summer layoffs are not here yet, and this year they will not have the governmental cover of the census to offset the loss of jobs.
11.Computers and automation are now performing many tasks formerly performed by humans and this trend will only grow over time.
12.Many workers have turned to temporary employment agencies with low pay and no benefits. Temporary jobs represent an astonishing 80% of private job growth.
According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the United States accounted for over half of all job losses among the 31 richest countries from 2007 to the middle of 2010.
Karl Perera, an acknowledged expert in the field of self-esteem, listed several reasons why self-esteem is so important to a person. You can readily see how they affect the unemployed:
1. Self-esteem can be the difference between success and failure. This is especially important in the interviewing process.
2. Self-esteem affects your thinking, causing your outlook to be positive or negative about all aspects of your daily life, not just your employment situation.
Your potential to achieve what you most desire (and this usually is gainful employment for the unemployed) is directly related to your self-esteem. You must maintain positive self-esteem to overcome the attitudes of others who tell you that you cannot succeed.
Robert Reasoner, a former school administrator and the developer of a model that is used in schools throughout the United States, says that self-esteem is merely the confidence that one can meet life's challenges and be worthy of happiness.
If this is true, how little the unemployed ask and how easy it would be for our government to provide it.
Announcing: Gen Next Member Forums
February 3rd, 2011 - 12:10pm
Filed under Think About It....
We're excited to announce Gen Next Forums as an opportunity for Members to benefit from the perspectives, experiences, and wisdom of other Gen Next Members. Only in Gen Next do successful individuals have regular access to game changing individuals, consequential ideas, and unique life enriching experiences.
Participation in a forum can be one of the most valuable aspects of Membership, offering Members the opportunity to meet monthly with up to ten Members to exchange helpful ideas, get feedback, problem solve, and explore best practices in business.
Forum discussions operate under strict confidentiality. Topics are related to industry or Member specific professional challenges; educational reflections from a GN program or experience; or general business issues, such as strategic planning, preparing for acquisition, human capital, or risk mitigation, to name only a few.
The talent density within Gen Next is unmatched, which provides each Member an incredible resource at working through major professional challenges and ideas. Members come from many walks of life, but their day-to-day challenges are often similar, lending to an opportunity for Members to benefit from fresh and confidential input. We hope you'll take advantage of this great opportunity, as the strength of our organization is directly driven by the growth and commitment of our membership.
If you would like to get involved in a Gen Next Forum, or have any questions, please contact Bailey Cuzner. Forums are open to Members only.
Movements.org Launches Online Hub For Digital Activism
February 2nd, 2011 - 10:08am
Filed under International Security
Movements.org today launched an online hub for digital activism that will allow activists to connect on and offline, to access resources, and to share their stories with each other and supporters all over the world. The site provides how-to guides for new and experienced activists, blog posts covering the role of connection technologies in social change, and case studies for activists to share their stories and learn from their peers.
Examples of new digital tools and resources on the site include:
- How to Remain Connected if Your Internet Gets Shut Off
- 5 Things You Can Do to Support Egyptians from Anywhere
- How to Boost your Security on Facebook by Enabling HTTPS
- How to Access Blocked Websites
- How Online Media Drove a Campaign to Release Egyptian Blogger Kareem Nabeel Suleiman
The organization was founded by three Gen Next Members - Roman Tsunder, Jason Liebman and Jared Cohen. Cofounder Jason Liebman said "Movements.org is the source for anyone who wants to keep up to date on the use of technology for achieving real social change. We have existed for two years as a support network for grassroots activists using digital tools, and today we come out of alpha launch to make our platform and resources available to everyone."
The Movements.org network of grassroots activists is diverse, representing approximately 27 countries from Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Leaders of the Egyptian Shabab April 6 Movement were represented at our 2008 Summit and are playing an important role in the current protests in Egypt. Other examples of movements include:
Recent events in the Middle East have illustrated the potential of connection technologies to foster civic empowerment and mobilize citizens towards affecting positive change. This potential underlines the importance of Movements.org's mission to identify, connect, and support activists not just during and after protests like those we are witnessing in Egypt, but also beforehand in order to prepare them as much as possible.