Fred Klonsky reports on his blog that Thereis a dangerous bill in the legislature that would wipe out all school funding and pensions and appoint acommission of legislators to start from scratch.
Since this is apparently Governor Bruce Rauner’s idea, you can be sure whatever happens will hurt the state’s public schools and benefit charters.
The bill has passed the State Senate and awaits action in the House.
Get involved. Speak out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Diane, for picking up on this. Our state senator voted for this, and now it’s time to let out fellow Illinois educators know about this via whatever means possible.
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Defined contribution (401ks) are the biggest fraud imposed on American workers in the history of America. Most workers have little income after necessities to fully fund a retirement. Wall Street charges ridiculous fees and companies grow ever stingy with matching contributions, if any. Defined contribution plans will force most of my generation to eat dog food and live in abject poverty. Americans are far too underfunded in 401ks and 403bs to retire. These defined contribution plans were created solely to enrich fund managers and move company pensions off the balance sheets and profits into offshore accounts. Instead, we should be expanding and strengthening Social Security instead of destroying it, as Republicans are intent on doing.
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This may be true, but in IL teachers are not allowed to participate in social security by law. Creates something if a dilemma when the legislature wants to attack our pensions, huh?
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Same in Ohio. No Social Security for teachers. And thank you Dubbya for WEP exclusions that reduce the benefits of those of us who have paid in and entered teaching. I honestly think the legislators could care less if teachers have retirements eliminated. Most would probably enjoy it.
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Although, I would argue that the the benefit should be defined by the contribution. I would also argue that the US gov should guarantee a defined rate of return of 6% or something like that.
Defined by contribution with a defined return is fairness and stability.
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MathVale, you are right on the money. This morning a guest on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show said corporation are sitting on – get this – $6 Trillion – in cash. I thought the amount being hoarded by the corporations and 1 percenters was “on;y” $2 – $3 trillion.
So much money bottled up, yet our government leaders continue to allow the dismantling of a dignified retirement for working Americans. 401Ks are a cash cow for Wall Street, and a raw deal for os.
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A while back Reuters projected that $31 TRILLION of wealth is hidden in global tax shelters – that is trillion with a T. The impact of that black hole in the economy is almost incomprehensible.
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I’ve reposted this info on my FB page. Thanks for the warning!
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retiredbutmissthekids doesn’t call it Ill-annoy for nothing!
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I just watched two movies on Netflix, 1) The drop and 2) We’re the Millers.
I understood that people, who are forced to live in the dead-end meet, will be forced to break the law. However, the uneducated, the addicted and the submissive will be killed unmercifully, whereas the smart and co-operative with the upper-hand POWER (can be bad or good like bad cop and good cop style) can survive a bit longer.
The bottom line is that the smart, conscientious and brave (= willing to snipe the bad people when it is needed without ANY WARNING) will be respected by the law -enforcers and will be happily survive.
In short, since I strongly believe in the universal law of KARMA, I would be the bottom line type. I accept my karma. I forgive the uneducated, the addicted and the submissive. I am willing to accept my own karma if it is needed to be respected by the law enforcer (= GOD’s will). Amen. Back2basic
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This idea of letting the locals vote on whether or not you deserve a pension from year to year came from ALEC and is being pushed in many states including California. It sounds great. But think about how it would actually work in reality. Chaos! Of course, that is exactly what the Koch Family wants to happen. Money is Power and teachers should understand this principle.
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Can you give me more information about this?
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