How Identity Politics Created Trump

[De Selby]

I'm tired of career politicians, especially those beholden to campaign donors/lobbyists (and party) and not their constituents of "territory" that they represent. Need to represent all their constituents, regardless of party.


Term limits, that would be better, at least for elected officials. I can see middle and senior leadership positions in .gov employees being set to term limits. Rank and file employees for most positions would be chaos since it can take several years to be effective in a position and the policies that affect the job.

Preferential voting would be much, mich more effective. It means you have to be palatable to much more voters and can’t win on polarising by giving some everything and screwing over the remaining 50 percent of the vote

[De Selby]

Teachers, yep.  Fire 'em after xx years.  Cops also.  That way you are always getting in new blood.  And no firemen past age 50. No unions either; not for teachers or firemen or police. Employment is at the pleasure of the locally elected officials.   Don't F-up and let the wrong house burn or shoot a innocent bystander that costs the city $$$$ to settle or defend.

Military is already age/years of service limited and has an "Up or Out" policy.  (usually takes an Act of Congress to serve more than 30 years.)

At will employment in public service is proven to result in lots of cousins and friends of elected officials having public jobs.

Those unions are why the fire services actually work.

[charby]

Teachers, yep.  Fire 'em after xx years.  Cops also.  That way you are always getting in new blood.  And no firemen past age 50. No unions either; not for teachers or firemen or police. Employment is at the pleasure of the locally elected officials.   Don't F-up and let the wrong house burn or shoot a innocent bystander that costs the city $$$$ to settle or defend.

Military is already age/years of service limited and has an "Up or Out" policy.  (usually takes an Act of Congress to serve more than 30 years.)

If you can serve in the military for x numbers of years, other non elected public workers should be given the same amount of years.

[Scout26]

If you can serve in the military for x numbers of years, other non elected public workers should be given the same amount of years.

Okay, as long as every 3-4 years those non-elected public workers have to pack-up and move to another state.

[charby]

Okay, as long as every 3-4 years those non-elected public workers have to pack-up and move to another state.

Sure but moving expenses are covered and lifetime pension/medical if they work 20+ years.

[Scout26]

Sure but moving expenses are covered and lifetime pension/medical if they work 20+ years.

To a certain extent, and pension is 50% of max earnings and they have to use the VA or get Tri-Care.

[Scout26]

At will employment in public service is proven to result in lots of cousins and friends of elected officials having public jobs.

Those unions are why the fire services actually work.

Most public employee unions exist to filter .gov money to D politicians.

[charby]

To a certain extent, and pension is 50% of max earnings and they have to use the VA or get Tri-Care.

Still better than what they currently get.

[Scout26]

Still better than what they currently get.

Hahahahahahaha.

Teachers here make MORE when they retire, then when they are working*.  A friend of mine recently retired as a firefighter after 30 years, at 85% salary.

And they are eligible for Medicare, since they do pay the Medicare tax, so they only have to buy a supplement. 

[charby]

Hahahahahahaha.

Teachers here make MORE when they retire, then when they are working*.  A friend of mine recently retired as a firefighter after 30 years, at 85% salary.

And they are eligible for Medicare, since they do pay the Medicare tax, so they only have to buy a supplement. 

Sounds like a state of Illinois problem.

Best you can get in Iowa is 65% of weighted average of your 5 best earning years, but that takes 35 years of service to get that. Currently the employee pays 6.9% of their salary into it and the employing agency pays 7.45% into the fund. Takes 7 years to get vested and there is no COL increase during retirement. You can't withdraw until years of service plus age equals 88, 60 years old and 20 years or vested and 65 years of age. Each year of service up to 30 years is worth 2% of your 5 best years average, 1% for each year of service from 31-35 years of service.

[MillCreek]

It has been a while since I have reviewed it, but my wife's projected retirement benefit (from 33 years of teaching if she retires at age 65) will not be paying more than she is making as an active worker.  The plus side, however, is that Washington state is one of the better states in having their state employee retirement system fully funded.  I want to say it is something like 90% plus.  Which puts it in contrast to some other states that are looking at default, slashing benefits or raising taxes significantly to cover pensions.

My Dad worked at Boeing for 40 years as an aeronautical engineer. This was back in the day when Boeing offered great pensions. He retired in 1990 at age 65, and he said between his Boeing pension and Social Security, he was taking home more than when he was still working, what with the lower taxes and no more paycheck deductions.

[Perd Hapley]

Were coal-miners refusing to train to do "women's work"? Is that something I missed?

No, the coal miners in the article I linked were refusing any retraining and instead placing their faith in Trump to bring back their old jobs.
The original topic was about the women's work, apparently Obama managed to "create jobs" that only white women could do!

I understand it's a lot to keep track of, especially for those of us who are only smart enough to do grunt work.

The original topic was about women refusing to do "men's work." Well, not exactly, but you managed to twist the meaning of the story almost 180 degrees around. Unlike your fabricated smear against the coal-miners, and their fragile male egos, the article recounted how feminist groups objected to the government jobs and infrastructure program actually creating jobs in infrastructure, and demanded that the jobs be more in line with women's tastes and training.

Also, the original topic was not about simple retraining, to gain new job skills. It was about a split between those with four-year degrees in education and healthcare, vs those seeking construction jobs.