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Comment by VladRussian2 | Hacker News Reader

>He's also traditionally been an opponent of government waste.

he is in bed with gov employees unions (the unions are primary driving force behind 200-300K/year gov employees pensions (http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/pensions) with retirement age of 55, CA is something like $200B deep in that hole), and especially with prison guard union - of course huge prison population resulting from "toughness on crime" may not be viewed as government waste by some.

Building a bridge or high-speed rail to nowhere - just a [large] peanut in that picture.

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> the unions are primary driving force behind 200-300K/year gov employees pensions

200-300K/year (and higher) pensions are pretty much entirely executives who weren't union members, it has nothing to do with unions.

e.g., the #1 highest: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/27/opinion/la-oe-cole-v...

>executives who weren't union members, it has nothing to do with unions.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=24566

Link describes one-time payouts upon retirement, not recurring pensions.

"Denson also earned $407,908 in total wages in 2011, according to city data, making him the highest paid city worker in 2011. Of this sum, $212,738 consisted of "cash out" pay, which accounts for such factors as vacations, holidays and unused sick pay. His regular salary was $195,169."

it describes his last salary, so if you know the formula, 3% at 55, and his years of service - 31 - stated in the article, it also allows to calculate his pension - 180K+

So what you're saying is that their pensions aren't "200-300K/year"?

if you look at the original link (http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/pensions), you'll see these "3% @ 60 Formula for Local Miscellaneous Members", "2% @ 55 State and School Miscellaneous" and "3% @ 55 Formula for State Peace Officer/Firefighter or Local Safety Member" - these formulas are mainly from union contracts.

> these formulas are mainly from union contracts.

All defined benefit pensions -- whether set by union contract or not -- use these kind of formulas. But the high pensions are not the product of the formula alone -- even if you work long enough at one of the formulas to get near (or over) 100%, you still aren't going to get 200-300K per year pension unless you have a last/highest/(average of last three)/etc. years salary (which ever is the base for the particular formula you have) high enough to push the pension that high.

Surprisingly enough, almost no rank-and-file workers have that kind of salary. The people with 200K and higher pensions are mostly people that are retiring from executive positions.

"especially with prison guard union - of course huge prison population resulting from "toughness on crime" may not be viewed as government waste by some" -

what if the prison guard union got in on the contract to have the prisoners build the hyperloop?

it seems you can do very well if you get into CA politics :)

This argument is like saying he's an opponent of extramarital affairs, but he's in bed with his wife.

Of course he's with the government employees unions, he has to live with them every day.

No, it's like saying he's a proponent of a healthy diet and eats a couple of hearty Big Macs with extra large fries and extra large cola five times a day. You can claim it is exactly what healthy diet means, but keep at it for couple of years and your look will certainly make it laughable. Exactly like Californian budget looks - both on state and local levels - makes claims of fighting waste laughable.

>>> Of course he's with the government employees unions, he has to live with them every day.

Having to work with them and being in bed with them is not the same thing. Though many politicians fail to see the difference, it is a known problem.

sorry... high speed rail to nowhere?

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