Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Inner Circle


Yesterday pretty much sucked the life out of me as the pension board moved forward with the annuitization plan instead of postponing it until the end of the year.

More disconcerting was the fact that the active police trustee and active firefighter trustee--you know the ones whom active first responders entrusted to the board--voted WITH the mayor’s minions. 

So much for holding the line.

So now that little hair cut Mayor Rawlings talked about has morphed into a shaved head.  Our personal monthly loss is at least $1,000.  Like many of you, we chose a substantially reduced pension amount (my husband's is at 63%) when we entered DROP.

The only bright side out of all of this is that according to their “experts” my husband will live until he’s 86.  And yes, I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

I do not know how we can recover from this.

In my speech to the board (which in retrospect was not my most shining or eloquent moment although one of my most passionate and sincerest), I told the pension board:

 “You are asking us to choose between visiting our children and family members who are scattered across these 50 states or paying our taxes.  You are asking us to choose between paying our bills or covering our medical expenses.  You are asking us to choose between selling our homes and providing for our families.”

I also told the board that in Dante’s Inferno, the inner most circle of hell—the ninth circle—was reserved for the most serious sin for Treachery—for the traitors, the people who betrayed trust.

“Make no mistake about it, if you do this thing, you will find yourselves at home among your traitorous brethren there," I told the board. "Be sure to tell Mayor Rawlings hello for us when you see him there."

Sadly, I did not expect Sam Friar and Joe Schutz to be greeters there. 




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