Schwarzenegger Abandons Pension Overhaul

[Rose Siding]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Under pressure from firefighters and police officers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday backed off, for now, his plan to privatize California's public employee pension system.

The Republican said "misconceptions" among firefighters and police officers that privatization would strip them of death and disability benefits had come to dominate the issue.

Over the past few weeks, Schwarzenegger has waged a campaign to put privatization on the ballot during a special election next fall. But on Thursday, he said he would wait until the June 2006 election if lawmakers did not craft a compromise measure in the coming months.

"Let's pull it back and do it better," said Schwarzenegger, flanked by more than a dozen police, fire and local government leaders.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050407/ap_on_re_us/california_pension_overhaul

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. How very girly man!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[caligirl]

2. Ahh you beat me to it. The guv gives up for the fire and police,

but what aboout the nurses and teachers?

[rodeodance]

5. yeah they were very much part of this issue (mostly women)

[mitchtv]

9. divide and conquer

Cops'll probably get a raise

[kevinmc]

15. You're Right.

That's exactly what he is doing. I hope the Cops and Firemen stay with the rest of the Unions.

[caligirl]

18. The nurses beat him in court, the teachers are still in the fight.

[kevinmc]

28. Yeh I know....

I live in California. I just want them all to stick together. By what he is doing is too pick off each group one by one. Nothing but Union Busting on a bigger scale.

[caligirl]

36. AAbsolutely.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Goody, round one over

now lets get ready for ROUND TWO.. these idiots NEVER sleep

[SCDem]

4. "misconceptions"

Being 62 and not being able to retire because some CEO Corporate Welfare King decided to take your money has been reality for too many people already not a "misconception".

[proud patriot]

6. ahhhhhh ,

we should throw ahhhnold a going away party :evilgrin:

[Megahurtz]

7. Ooops, foot in mouth

disease.

[Beetwasher]

8. PUSSY!!!!

Arnold you fucking coward...

[Boo Boo]

10. Looks like Arnold finally figured out

that this was going to end his political career. Too bad. I was hoping he'd just keep on listening to the "genius" K. Rove, and his buddy Norquist, and that would be that.

The body still has a pulse.

[Maat]

37. I think that you are right, Boo-Boo.

[DBoon]

11. Love it!

:)

[nolabels]

12. He figured out how this would triangulate against him and the GOp

I would willing to bet his wife might of whispered in his ear once or twice also. So will this help or hurt him is his bid to get that US Constitutional Amendment enabling to run for POTUS?

Truly he is whore for his own ego, if ever there was such a thing

[GreenPoet64]

13. What about the nurses & teachers? Is he still going to rob

the women?

[EVDebs]

14. Arnold wants a TABOR-style state budgeting system....

Arnold Schwarzenegger supports TABOR

http://www.idtaxreform.com/TABOR/ARRNOLDTABOR.htm

Like Colorado did in 1992 under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights TABOR. It basically budgets from a set start point year using growth in population and inflation combined into a percentage/per-capita budget growth figure. Any extras are to be 'rebated' to the taxpayers. I believe that in CA, this would just turn into a 'rainy-day-fund' instead of rebates.

The big question is how to fund recurring capital projects and O&M of existing infrastructure. (shhhh. This was always the problem, since in CA they've raided those accounts: just look at Highways and the SF aquaduct to HetchHetchy, and the BayBridge fiasco...billions of dollars).

Current budgets are 2/3rds education and healthcare spending. That's not going to change no matter WHO is in there. The other big secret is that corporations aren't paying their fair share. Look at Warren Buffett's article www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0306-01.htm

"Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

Corporate taxation in CA (and rest of US) needs to be realistically reported in the news media. The pandering cannot continue much longer ... we're finding out

[FredScuttle]

16. RUN AWAY!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!

[PeaceProgProsp]

17. The ONLY reason he's backing off is because:

- not only would this issue become very unpopular in California, it would probably encourage an informed, smart discussion on this issue that would torpedo Bush's social security privatization plan as well as Arnold's state plan.

They're stirring a hornets' nest by getting Californians to participate in this debate. It's better to reduce the excitement in California and to see what Bush can do nationally first.

[caligirl]

19. Makes perfect sense to me. Even a very conservative friend

of ours laughed his head off when we told him what Arnold had taken on. And He is from Texas.

[PeaceProgProsp]

21. It's not just that he's taken on powerful interests.

It's that those powerful interests are right about the issue.

It's ridiculous to privatize the public pensions. Their overhead costs are something like a 20th of the overhead costs for 401(k)s, and the concentrated management and voting power ensures that people who have the time and know what they're doing are managing the funds and voting shares in a way that encourages coroporations to behave, which is not the case when 401(k) holders vote shares -- which is why 401(k) holders got screwed by Enron and world com et al, whereas I bet you the California pensions didn't get screwed by those companies.

[caligirl]

24. Its looking like Enrons screwing of Cal was a plan shown to Delay,

we got screwed non the less.\\


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1710888

[Boo Boo]

22. Yup. They were hoping that

with Arnold's "popularity" in CA this would be a slam-dunk. Arnie was even quoted making a statement along the lines of what you're suggesting with a reference to that old saw, "As goes California, so goes the rest of the nation."

Turns out Arnie ain't all that popular. His approval rating is below 50%, and he's got a real election to worry about in '06. Calling another special election was a pretty dumb move on his part, IMO.

Privatizing pensions is a silly waste of political capital.

[DinahMoeHum]

20. Tee hee. Girly-Boy Ahnold gets pansy-whipped. . .

just made my day.

This is what he gets for letting the little head do the thinking for the big one.

:evilgrin:

[Guckert]

23. Arnold decided to take on the unions of the Teachers, Police, Fire, Correc

Corrections, Nurses, home health care, and ALL STATE workers.
Maria may have mentioned that those groups ARE THE VOTERS OF THIS STATE.

Last year he said that he is tired of special interest groups on the capitol steps crying about his plans for a better California. the same day a group of hundreds of home health care nurses and their retarded, severely handicapped patients where on the capitol steps. most of them children. It was really embarrassing for the new GOP savior. i guess he did not learn anything from that.

[olddad56]

25. it was all about the falling approval ratings...

His success is dependent upon him remaining popular. He has no oratory skills, he has no political skills, he uses no diplomacy. He relies on his appeal to the lemmings to get things done. His style is about circumventing the legislature through propositions and special elections. All back door, low road, bullying techniques that can only succeed if he is popular among the people who never learned to think for themselves.

[natrat]

26. Feck you arnold-you nazi douche

that felt good-sorry

[olddad56]

29. ARNOLD IS A KNUCKLE DRAGGING NEANDERTHAL NAZI GOON

[olddad56]

30. and I mean that in the kindest way.

[AlCzervik]

27. Thank you protestors!

you were well organized and on point and you never let up, this is your victory.

[Mark E. Smith]

31. Does This Mean Steroid Arnie's $50 Million Vanity Election Is On Hold?

And I'd sure love to see what Starnie's polling has been telling him. For him to back off after all that bullshit a month or so back it must have been pretty awful.

[natrat]

33. "if we can just stall em until we get all the e-vote machines installed"

says ahnold-i will terminate democracy in kaleefornia

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

32. His little run-in with the real world scared him

It's not a movie, studley. Deal with it.

[senseandsensibility]

34. Thanks for posiing this, but I'm still unclear

about whether the teachers and nurses are protected, even after reading the full article. Would anyone who knows respond? I'd really appreciate it,as a teacher in CA who has protested this plan!!

[xchrom]

35. divide and conquer -- photo op with cops and fire fighters.

well -- we'll see.

i have to take satisfaction that those folk handed him his ass.

[struggle4progress]

38. Oh, dear ...

:evilgrin:

[Moderator]

39. kick to combine

[Ernesto]

40. Schwarzenegger backs off his pension plan

The move represents a huge political defeat for Schwarzenegger that illustrates the perils of governing by initiative. Unions and Democrats said the governor's retreat would help open the way for discussions of problems they said were more pressing to most Californians.
Oh sorry actor-phoney.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12686580p-13539304c.html

[4morewars]

41. Nicely Done

Although I don't know why they let this nazi get the job in the first place.

[Frances]

42. I didn't vote for him!

Frankly, I think the credit for his backing off goes to the nurses and firefighters.

The firefighters were really angry because they knew their spouses would be out in the cold if they just got a lump sum payment instead of a pension if they were killed fighting a fire.

[4morewars]

43. Personally,

I was rooting for Gary Coleman. He certainly couldn't be any worse than the idiot that has the job now.

And yes, the rest of the so called labor movement could learn a thing or two from the California Unions !

[senseandsensibility]

45. Is that a quote form the Sacramento Bee?

I didn't want to register to read the story. Thanks.

[K8-EEE]

Arnie Backs Down

Forgive me if this is a dupe, I didn't see it up! Ahnold admits his pension scheme for CA is flawed...yeow!

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2804817,00.html

[lebkuchen]

44. forgive me if this is a dupe

Arnie has a limp dick.

[slaveplanet]

46. It Bleeds

we can kill it!