Government, not workers, caused pension problem

With all the current debate about altering teacher pensions, and those of other civil servants, I must mention that retiring teachers in Illinois forfeit their social security—or at least most of it. This I know from personal experience.

I taught for a few years in the 1970s, then quit to raise children and held other paying jobs. In the 1990s, I returned to teaching, believing I had a lot to offer students through other work experience and subject knowledge.

I didn't get paid very much, (for example, my niece made nearly four times what I made as a teacher just two years after her college graduation), but I loved what I was doing and I was unaware at the time of this law in Illinois which would force me to forfeit $2 of Social Security for every $3 of teacher pension I might receive.

When I retired from teaching in 2008, I took the Teacher Retirement System pension but found Illinois is one of approximately only six states that has this law. This means forfeiting a significant amount of money to our fine state, money paid by my employer and myself for 25 years of work I did when I was not teaching; money which now benefits other, I guess.

The reduction in Social Security even affects what a teacher would be able to collect if something were to happen to their spouse.

Additionally, there seems to be a great deal of discussion about altering or adjusting pensions people expected to receive upon retirement. Since the state of Illinois saw fit to “borrow” money from government pension funds and our government has helped itself to Social Security money, money that in both cases should have been invested on our behalf and grown in financial strength and size, not lessened, I think we should stop blaming the people who earned the pensions as the source of the problem.

The problem is our government and its willingness to “rob Peter to pay Paul” without regard for the people it is supposed to represent.

Amy Medved

Mundelein