PM urges workers planning to strike on Thursday to stop and reconsider arguments about public sector pension reforms Public sector pensions cost every household £1,000 a year, David Cameron claimed as he made a detailed appeal to unions to accept the government’s proposals and back away from strike action. The prime minister said he believed there were “misconceptions” amongst those planning to strike on Thursday, urging them to stop and reconsider the arguments. He warned that the pensions system was “in danger of going broke” if reforms were not made. “Of course, in a democracy people can go out and protest,” Cameron told the Local Government Association conference in Birmingham. “But the people marching should know what they’re objecting to, and I believe there are some misconceptions flying around.” Concerns about the impact of Thursday’s strikes were raised when it emerged that the UK Border Agency has written to airlines suggesting they might encourage people to choose another day to fly amid concerns about the impact of immigration staff taking strike action at Heathrow and other major airports. The cabinet met and discussed contingency plans on Tuesday as the number of schools estimated to be closed on Thursday grew. In comments that unions said were an attempt to drive a wedge between private and public sector workers, Cameron said: “The taxpayer currently contributes over two-thirds of the costs of maintaining public sector pensions. That’s the equivalent of £1,000 a household. That figure is only expected to rise. “Is that a fair? I don’t believe it is, especially when people in the private sector are seeing the value of their own pensions falling, their own pension age rise and when, according to the Office for National Statistics, the average gross pay in the public sector is now higher than in the private sector. So we need to rebalance the system.” In a speech almost entirely focused on the pensions issue, but notable for its non-confrontational language, he argued: • That reforms are essential as people live longer and the bill for public sector pensions rises. “The reason we can’t go on as we are is because as the baby-boomers retire – and thankfully live longer – the pension system is in danger of going broke … in the 1970s, when a civil servant retired at 60, they could expect to claim a pension for around 20 years,” he said. “Today, when they retire at 60, they can expect to claim a pension for nearly 30 years – about a 50% increase on before.” • That the system of paying for public sector pensions needs to be rebalanced to make it fairer on the taxpayer. But he also argued that the reforms would be fair for public sector workers, protecting their defined benefits, albeit under a pension scheme with payouts based on career averages instead of final salaries. Accrued rights would also be protected, and the lowest paid protected from contributions increases. “Your pre-reform entitlements are being fully protected,” he said. “What you have earned you will keep. Fact. That’s why I can look you in the eye and say public service pensions will remain among the very best – much better, indeed, than for many private sector workers.” • He argued that the career-average scheme was fairer for low paid workers, who are no longer expected to subsidise the final salary schemes of those who jump to the highest salaries before retirement. “This is not about saving money. It’s about doing what’s right and fair by you,” he said. • Refusing to act now would store up a problem in the future that in five, 10 or 15 years would become unaffordable, he said. • He concluded with a direct appeal to those planning to strike on Thursday, saying: “To those considering strike action at a time when discussions are ongoing, I would say to you: these strikes are wrong – for you, for the people you serve, for the good of the country. It’s the changes we propose that are right. Right for the long term. Right by the taxpayer. And, most crucially of all, right by you.” David Cameron Local government Trade unions Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Public sector pay Public sector pensions Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
An Australian wildlife park has been showing off its latest arrival. “Boonda” the baby koala is a second generation urban koala, meaning that he’s the first to be born to a mother who was also born in captivity. (June 28)
Continue reading …
Riot police fired tear gas at youths hurling rocks near the Greek finance ministry Tuesday, trying to quell the anger unleashed by a general strike as parliament debated new cost-cutting measures. (June 28)
Continue reading …One of the luckiest and best things that ever happened to me and my family was when my folks decided to take a foster son into our family. I was 11 years old, and so was Kevin. I wasn’t sure about him coming, because with my oldest sister moving out, I would have finally have a bedroom to myself when my older brother moved into her newly empty room, but I got over it quickly enough. Kevin is developmentally and physically disabled because of brain damage he had suffered from child abuse. He can’t talk very clearly (although those of us in the family can understand him pretty well), read much, or do much math. He has always moved pretty slow, and now has cerebral palsy and is having more and more trouble moving at all. But before getting CP, as long as he was able, Kevin went to work every Monday through Friday in structured workplaces, making money to support himself and pay taxes. He is fun to be with, as engaging and good-natured as anyone I know. Although he’s not able to talk very clearly, Kevin tells great stories, is genuinely funny, and is always interested in hearing about what is going on in my life. He has a better memory on some things than I do, and despite not being able to read a map, he is better at finding his way around Lincoln, Neb. (our hometown) than I am. He calls our mom every single day (which is better than I do) with stories about his day. Most importantly of all, he cares for others wherever he is. Since he left our house after we all grew up, and Mom and Dad got older, Kevin has mostly been in group homes in Lincoln. We still see him on holidays and whenever we come to town, but since leaving my folks’ house, he has usually lived with others who have mental and/or physical disabilities. Even with his developmental challenges, his cerebral palsy, and the fact that he is losing some hearing and eyesight, Kevin has helped his housemates. For example, he has been a strong source of comfort, support and friendship for a young man he is living with now who is worse off than him in terms of his disabilities. My brother Kevin, with all his challenges, is in every way the kind of person we would want in our society: a wonderful son, a great brother, someone who looks out for and helps everyone around him. This is the kind of person Republicans would leave by the side of the road in order to, as my friend Bob Creamer put it, “ protect tax loopholes for CEOs who fly corporate jets .” They would devastate Medicaid and programs for the disabled, so that the wealthiest most powerful people in America would not have to pay a single extra dime in taxes. But Kevin is not the only son of the middle class who would be badly hurt by the Republican position on the budget and the debt ceiling. Conservatives are threatening everything that helps support a decent middle class, including help for our family members who have disabilities; including money for education and student loans; including middle-class consumer protection from financial predators; including Social Security and Medicare for elderly folks. And they are playing chicken with our entire economy, because as a vast majority of economists believe, a debt ceiling default would traumatize a very weak economy. We could have another major financial panic, millions more in job losses. And all so that people over making over $500,000 don’t have to pay one more penny in taxes. Now obviously, this is terrible policy, sociopathically insane. But it also goes to the core of who we are as a country, our deepest foundational values and vision of ourselves. Are we a nation built on Ayn Rand’s philosophy , which celebrates selfishness and wealth above all other things, and mocks people like my brother Kevin as defective parasites? Or do we follow the ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a dream, “ deeply rooted in the American Dream, ” that we would be an American family sitting down at the table of brotherhood where we were all judged on the content of our character? By that test, my brother Kevin would far outshine people like Paul Ryan. Our economy is at stake in this budget and debt ceiling debate, perched on the edge of a precipice. But so is the content of our character as a country. I hope it is not found wanting.
Continue reading …
My name is Erica and I am the daughter of an adulterer. I discovered the adulterous streak in my own family when my mother told me my father was having affairs. I was in my thirties at the time and, although I had no idea what was going on when I was a child, it somehow didn’t surprise me. My father was one of four brothers, all of whom were womanizers. I married someone who I was sure would be faithful and I was totally blindsided by his affair with a co-worker. Divorce has many negative effects on kids, but divorce due to infidelity has some unexpected fallout, especially to the sons of adulterers, but to daughters as well. The Kennedy family is the most famous example of womanizing passed down through the generations. Frank Pittman, one of the best writers ever on the subject of infidelity has some wonderful insights. Here in his book “Private Lies” he talks about what effect parental affairs have on children’s adult lives: “Parental affairs can be the training ground for their children’s adult lives. Crises of infidelity disfigure the pretty domestic fantasies about falling in love and living happily ever after. For children these are indelible lessons about what they can expect when they grow up-from men, from women and from marriage.” Children do survive divorce, but they pay a heavy price for their parents’ infidelities. Perhaps the most common effect of parental infidelity is the children’s subsequent infidelities. For the next generation, I think it would be a good idea if we had self-help groups for Adult Children of Adulterers. The impact and the the problems of people who grew up amid secrets and deceits and constant threats to the marital stability are not greatly different from those faced by children growing up with alcoholic parents. Children are not likely to grow up normally surrounded by dishonesty, disorientation, gender obsessions, or the temporary insanity and fugue states of high romance. But if infidelity and divorce are considered normal, normal children can grow up expecting it and preparing for it. Adult children of adulterers may have identified with the betrayer of the family….As children see it, adulterers are out having fun, getting the excitement the folks back home are missing. Children of infidelity, especially the sons of philanderers, are very much at risk to become philanderers themselves.” As I can attest, the sons may become adulterers but the daughters marry them. Maria Shriver, the betrayed wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a Kennedy. Dave Carder, author of “Close Calls: What Adulterers Want You to Know About Protecting Your Marriage” says it can be difficult to find out the family history of adulterers because it’s often kept a secret. He says, “Men may have learned to self-medicate through sex, especially if they grew up in a family atmosphere of anger and shame. Chronically conflicted families can predispose individuals to addictive or compulsive behavior, which may be acted out through sex.” Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly grew up in an atmosphere of “anger and shame.” In an interview with “Fortune” in 2004, told how he suffered what “would now be called child abuse” at the hands of his father, a member of the Nazi Party, who beat him regularly. Interestingly, his father preferred his stepbrother Meinhard, because he suspected Arnold wasn’t his “real” son. In a strange psychological twist, Arnold turned the tables as an adult by fathering a child in an adulterous relationship under the nose of his wife and his “real” children. If it existed, I’d certainly attend Adult Children of Adulterers. I might meet some famous sons and daughters there.
Continue reading …
It seems no matter what Sarah Palin does or doesn't do, she's going to be lambasted by America's press – even the supposedly “conservative” ones. On Tuesday's “Morning Joe,” co-host Joe Scarborough used Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's successful campaign launch as a means of bashing the former Alaska governor (video follows with transcript and commentary): JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: And what a contrast, Andy, with Sarah Palin. And there’s going to be this contrast for some time. Of course, Sarah Palin’s people now are conducting outreach to Iowa activists. She obviously can’t love what’s happening with Michele Bachmann. But just think: had Sarah Palin a year ago surrounded herself with professional handlers where, not to tell her what to say or how to act, but, but to stop her from doing some self-destructive things. It’s like when Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News and knows a little bit about these things. Roger Ailes said, “Don’t put out that thing on Facebook after Gabby Giffords (unintelligible).” She ignored Roger, and she paid for ignoring Roger. She doesn’t listen to people. Michele Bachmann does, and it makes a difference. First off, why do people in the media – even the supposedly “conservative” ones – think Palin isn't happy with Bachmann's success? Doesn't this assume she's going to toss her hat into the ring and therefore sees the Minnesota Congresswoman as a competitor? If the opposite is true, and Palin has no intention of running next year, at least not for president, she might be thrilled with Bachmann's success. She could be exuberantly cheering her fellow Tea Partier on as Bachmann likely more closely echoes Palin's conservative views than most of the other Republican presidential candidates that have announced. As I like so many observers believe the former Alaska governor is not going to run and instead is biding her time to not only have some influence over the 2012 platform but also to decide who she's going to throw her support behind, it is quite possible in the coming months we're going to see these two ladies on the same stage with one quite happily endorsing the other. As such, Scarborough and his compatriots in the media on both sides of the aisle gleaning some de facto competition between these women are making an assumption that could be tremendously false. As for Ailes recommending Palin not respond to the Tucson shootings, does that mean he was right? People all throughout the liberal press were blaming the former vice presidential candidate for Giffords' shooting. Should she really have stayed quiet and not defended herself? The idea that Palin's response to that incident hurt her is largely in the minds of her detractors who will attack her no matter what she says or does. At this point in time, is there really anything this woman could do that would get the approval of folks like Scarborough and his colleagues? Beyond which, why do the press see Bachmann and Palin as being tied at the hip? Does every action by one have bearing on the other? Fortune magazine editor Andy Serwer pointed this out to Scarborough. There is indeed an odd sexism going on here that presumes that every discussion about Bachmann has to involve Palin and vice versa. Until the moment that Palin actually does enter the race, can't these women be judged independently, or is that asking too much?
Continue reading …A German “cannibal killer” who admitted eating the flesh of one of his two teenage victims has been sentenced to life in prison. The killer, 26, confessed to licking blood from the wound of a 13-year-old girl he murdered and eating her flesh. He has lured her to the woods…
Continue reading …Another political hoax has hit the Internet. An “American gay rights activist” talks on a YouTube video of his disgust to learn that organizations arranging a flotilla to bust the Israeli blockade of Gaza aid are apparently homophobic. “Mother Teresa with a Keffiyeh!” grumbles the man who identifies himself as…
Continue reading …
Rod Blagojevich, culpable de corrupción Seggio Obama: Rod Blagojevich condannato Blagojevich coupable itrytohelpyou says: Convicted Blagojevich faces prospect of prison. Read it now at http://tinyurl.com/42lgkcm
Continue reading …