Re: CPI 9.1% - vs 2.5% cap COLA
I will tell you what the bean counters in Annapolis think of us. Some years ago, when John Gary was county executive, he wanted to take our retirement funds out of the gold standard investments they were in and invest them in real estate and other high risk investments. And, of course, he wanted to be able to borrow against the money to help the county pay its debts. Just like many of the large corporations were doing. The FOP and Teachers union objected, strenuously. I sat in on several of the county council meetings. The bean counters were all for this plan, and during their testimony before the council I learned exactly what they thought about the retirees. None of them had anything good to say, and one came right out and said we were foolish to think that we actually deserved a pension at all. He said that anyone who was not bright enough to make good investments for themselves should not expect the county to pay them a pension. In his opinion we did not deserve it, and if the county was not allowed to dip onto those funds the county would go bankrupt in ten years. I was there. I heard him say it. They hate having to put out that pension money, and if they get the chance they will steal it. We stopped them back then. The courts and the council ruled in our favor. But you younger people should never forget it!
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