I got a call for my property rental and I asked the prospective tenant what he does for a living. He said he was retired. I said, oh you sound so young. He said he was 47. I responded, so you must be a civil servant to retire so young. He answered, "yes, he was a civil servant." Then he said. "that's the only way to afford retiring at my age - you either have to be independently wealthy or a civil servant."
It should not be possible for a person to work for 20 years in a civil servant position funded by taxpayers, and then be able to retire with the level of salary and benefits that allow them to retire and live off the taxpayer for the next 30 plus years! If this man lives to an average life expectancy of around 80 years ago he will be earning nearly twice as much being retired than he earned while he was working. That's wrong!
Taxpayers don't enjoy these benefits and they certainly can't afford to support others with their taxes so that they can enjoy these benefits!
This man, and millions like him, enjoy entitlements, (pensions, health and insurance benefits, special aid programs, etc.) that are out-of-whack with what the average employee is able to afford for themselves, and it is unfair for the rest of us to carry the burden of others who worked for government. Why should a civil servant or union worker be entitled to more for the work they do than a non-government worker? It's not fair and it is bankrupting America!
Here's another example. Earlier this year I volunteered to help a homeless shelter plant some flowers. It was a lousy rainy day and the last thing I wanted to be doing was work outside, but I made a commitment and I figured I was going to get dirty anyway so what's the difference if I got wet too. I arrived and went straight to work. The shelter director told me there was over 100 people on any given night at the shelter. She also had quite an ambitious amount of garden beds that she wanted me to clean up and plant flowers & vegetables in.
Given the volume of work and the fact that I wanted to finish up in a few hours, I asked the shelter director if she would ask a couple of the shelter's "guests" to give me a hand? I told her I would show them what to do. I was floored by her response. She told me that she could not ask any of them to help me! Why, I asked. Get this answer --- if any of them got hurt (planting flowers!) the shelter would be sued! I told her you have got to be kidding me! Nope, she said, not kidding! That's wrong!
People who are on the public troth should be required to do something in exchange for their benefits. Anything! There is a way that anyone can be productive. Frankly, I think the less pleasant the work the better!! This way they are motivated to get off of government assistance! And, while they are on it they can at least be productive members of society. That would be positive on many levels!
It's examples like these above that are why the Tea Party is gaining so much support! Many of us are fed up with the outrageous ways our government is spending America into bankruptcy. We need more common sense approaches to the problems with government spending. Besides spending less, we can get more bank for our buck by changing our foolish laws which make it possible for shelter residents to live scot-free and civil servants to collect a pension at age 47 when they could still be working.
