System has too many inconsistencies

I believe reporters in general are not asking all of the right questions. First, why are some groups of people such as teachers and police allowed to opt out of the Social Security system when the rest of us cannot? For example, probation officers in Illinois must pay both Social Security and the IMRF. Then, they do not get medical benefits when they retire as do the state police, teachers and other classes of state workers and city workers.

Furthermore, if one of the “special” group of workers becomes disabled, or their children suddenly have special needs, I assume they’d apply for federal benefits, in addition to anything they be may be eligible for within their pension plans, to support them. Because of this these workers put the burden of supporting retired/disabled persons onto the rest of us!

There should be a dollar limit on pension payments that is in line with what the rest of us will get from Social Security. This means that a maximum amount should be set on monthly/yearly payments no matter how high a paycheck one received from the government. In my opinion, $50,000 max seems like a fair figure. It should be skewed down in favor of the lower-wage employees so they get more money and that the insanely large pensions for the “bosses” are eliminated. Those $100,000-plus pensions should not exist, especially when we have to give out free medical insurance. Pensions were meant to be a security net and not set up to make people millionaires in retirement.

Let me be clear, I think pensions are a good thing when they are not abused and set up properly. However, what we have is various systems that are abused and killing the taxpayers.

Gary Meyers

Des Plaines