I was reading from the bottom up and was all set to say something about artificial flavors but, having read JBS's post I'm not sure it's relevant.
There's no way Zimmerman only weight 170 -- he's got a very stocky build, and he's 5' 9"? More like 220 at least.
To the OP, over the last couple of years I've been convinced of two things (1) that it would be a loss if nobody offered defined-benefit pensions, and that it's good if government jobs do because, potentially, it creates some pressure on private sector jobs to not completely gut their pension plans (I acknowledge that this is more of vague hand-wavy feeling than an argument) and (2) pension obligations are a huge problem for state and city governments and, in many cases, cannot be met within the funding limitations of the state/city.
How to reconcile these two positions, I see a range of possibilities, none of which seem great:
1) Let states/cities default on their pensions just like private companies -- this seems to have all sorts of problems.
2) Amend state constitutions to allow them to run deficits and, by doing so, kick the can farther down the road.
3) Offer some federal guarantee for state/city pensions.
4) Change regulations to require private and public pension plans to have greater reserves (make everybody suffer like the post office).
My knee-jerk position would be to support (3) and (4) but I feel like there are some real practical problems with both of those. For (3) I am mindful of Chris Bertram's comment in the community college thread that, in the current climate, trying to find more public resources for a given category is competing with other deserving needs -- as tempting as it might be to say that the Feds should cut defense spending to guarantee pensions, I just don't see that happening.
Well we could lighten your load by providing you with lots of additional resources Phil. Perhaps we could increase the proportion of public spending going to higher education? If other things were equal, I'd be in favour of that. But when welfare budgets are being cut and so forth, I think you may have a bit of a struggle. Also, again, there's the inexorable grind of the Baumol effect.
For (4) I worry that, first, it's proven hard to enforce those regulations when they've existed and, secondly, that making them too stringent just pushes everybody towards defined-contribution plans even faster.
3: Yeah but, if we had government-provided health care, so that no one ever had to worry about being ruined by medical bills, pensions could be a lot smaller.
Also, if a guy wanted to get an Android phone from T-Mobile, free with a new 2 year contract, which one would be the one for him to get?
This topic hits close to home. At my new institution I have a limited window in which to choose whether to go with the state pension or a more standard 401k type thing.
The pension looks like a better deal but only if it's still there in ~20 years. My impression is there's basically zero recourse if you pay in for decades and the state just says "Ha! No pension for you. Psych!"
Of course, the value of a 401k can largely disappear as well, but that would require bunch of society wide things to go wrong. All it takes for the pension to disappear is for the voters to put enough sociopaths in the statehouse.
Android phone from T-Mobile, free with a new 2 year contract
I just got a T-mobile phone last November and I ended up going with their "discount plan" in which they don't subsidize the phone but my monthly bills are $10 cheaper. That seemed like a good trade-off for me since I had ended up keeping my previous phone for ages before upgrading.
2: I'm guessing the original heavier weight came from people estimating from an old picture (the mugshot in orange) and the new weight is people estimating from a current picture. I'm not great at guess-your-weight, but 170 looks plausible for a guy who's 5'9" and looks like he does in the security camera footage.
And I vest in the NYS defined benefit pension plan next year. I'm very pleased about it.
The 250# figure came from his 2005 arrest record; the police report this time did not list a weight. He's obviously lost weight in the intervening 7 years. 170 looks low to me from the video. I'd have guessed ~200. I'm 6'0" and roughly 220 pounds and he and I have roughly similar builds.
The practice of identifying artificial fruit flavor with misspellings ("Froot", etc.) should be made universal.
7.1: Yes, I expect they consulted with a "body-weight expert" who made a "science-based" estimate from watching the video.
Razzberry
Strorbry
Bloobs
Gräp
Pyenappel
Lyme
R-Anj
ApEl
Bananarama!
Pop-Pie-Ahhhh
Everything is so fucked up -- I guess it's natural that way.
This new AZ abortion bill is totally insane, EVEN FOR ARIZONA!
And the current Notre Dame football player rapist thing is completely repugnant.
I wish we could have total industrial collapse tomorrow. I just need enough time to pick up a shotgun, an AK and some ammunition.
To merge topic themes: keep your pension at a banc.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banq_(term)
||
Orly Taitz is the early front-runner to lose to Dianne Feinstein this year!
|>
Nat, it depends on what your usage patterns are, but if you don't use many voice minutes, T-mobile's $30 "web/walmart exclusive plan" for 100 mins / unlimited text / unlimited data might save you a lot, though, as with the "value" plans NickS mentioned, you don't get a phone subsidy there. If you do go that route, and end up buying your own, I'll say that I really like my Motorola Defy, and you can probably get one for less than $200.
12-- Is "bloobs" the name for fake boobs?
||
"In China, the year is traditionally divided into periods based on the moon's orbit around the earth and the sun's path across the sky. This lunisolar calendar is laden with myths and celebrated by rituals that allowed Chinese to mark time and make sense of their world."
|>
Wow, the mysteries of an alien culture.
19: To abuse Jack Handey... Since the dawn of time, mankind has pondered time. Returning to the etymology, consider the origin words: "Tim" and "e..."
||
Republicans are fucking morons.
"The idea is clear," said Thompson. "It's to detect and prevent fraud and save the taxpayers' money." Is there that much fraud being committed by state employees? "I don't know how much there is," said Thompson. "That's the whole point. I hope we learn there's very little or none."||>
Oh! I forgot about voter fraud! Giuliani claimed there were 50,000 fraudulent votes in his 1991 election, which he lost (by 42,000 votes.)
5
... All it takes for the pension to disappear is for the voters to put enough sociopaths in the statehouse.
This is misleading, the widespread problems with public pension funding are indicative of systemic issues rather than individual malefactors. There are strong incentives to use unrealistic accounting and to underfund which it would take a saint to resist and few politicians are saints. Politicians are also often financially unsophisticated and easy marks for the sharks on Wall Street.