In the Eye of the Pension Storm

The eye of the pension storm is focused in Southern California.

ABC News came out with this report on Pension Friction in Contra Coast County. Contra Coast is a bedroom community in the San Francisco - Oakland area. Although the report focused on an issue called "spiking"" it is really just the tip of a much larger fight that has been brewing for some time and threatens to become much larger.

Last summer we saw the Toronto strike focus on an issue of accrued sick time. The vacation time issue in this news report is based on the the same concept, a lump sum payout at retirement. Because public sector pensions are based on final salary, these terminal payments go towards the calculation of the worker's pension. The result is known as pension spiking or boosting.  

The issue of spiking is really just the current bulls eye on a fight over public sector pensions.

In the report we see Marcia Fritz interviewed. She is the President of the taxpayers advocate group called California Pension Reform. They are demanding the reform of public sector pensions in California.

One of the accomplishments of California Pension Reform has been to bring to light a serious issue that has been hidden and undisclosed to taxpayers for a long time. They have been responsible for the push in California to disclose $100,000 pensions in the public sector. Their work has been aided by the Pension Tsunami.

Pensions are an issue that will steamroll over every level of government in North America. Public pensions are the same in design and cost for workers from the City of Toronto, to California State to federal workers in Ottawa. They are surprisingly consistent across cites, states and provinces.

Unfortunately too many politicians and taxpayers are unaware of the looming disaster. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls them a locomotive.

"We are about to get run over by a locomotive and we can see the lights coming at us. We can see the lights coming"

Pension reform is an issue that is very controversial. These entitlements will be  furiously by the public sector unions regardless of the costs to taxpayers.