Stop mandatory pension contributions

There were several “worst” things that we the people let happen to our country. One of these was pension funds.

They are totally un-American. We are giving a percentage of our salaries to our government to save for our retirement, contrary to the American spirit established by our country’s founders.

We should have established our own individual retirement accounts. Consider this: After 40 years of teaching and contributing 8.5 percent their salaries to their own retirement accounts at 5 percent in municipal bonds, their accounts would accumulate to a conservative estimate of $1 million. This would be their money, and they’d be free to do whatever they please with this money.

According to our constitution, our state pays for the majority of the expenses for teachers’ salaries and the operation of our school systems.

No law should have been passed requiring taxpayers to subsidize the teachers pension fund. Teachers are contributing 8.5 percent of their salaries to their funds. With our trustees investing wisely, they did not need state funding, and the state should not have been involved in the teachers retirement fund. This was a separate entity.

Quinn and his political cohorts should never have been allowed to get their grubby hands on the teachers retirement fund. Are we not capable of establishing our own retirement fund? Did we need the state to do this?

We should put an end to mandatory contributions to pension funds. Let workers decide on their retirement options.

Chuck Coletta

Lombard