http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/us/13bankruptcy.html

Faltering Rhode Island City Tests Vows to Pensioners

When the small, beleaguered city of Central Falls, R.I., filed for bankruptcy this month, it sought to cut the pension checks it has been sending its retired police officers, firefighters and other workers by as much as half. All the city promises now is that its retirees, many of whom do not get Social Security, will not have their benefits cut to less than $10,000 a year.
I've been wondering for a while how it is that those who make promises that can never be kept, concerning future public pension, SS, Medicare, etc. benefits somehow think of themselves as compassionate, humane, etc.

The sad, dirty, unpleasant truth is that those who have made, and continue to make such promises are perpetrating a cruel hoax on folks who will wake up one day when it's too late to adjust, and find out that they won't be getting what they were promised. That's not opinion, speculation, etc. It is the inevitable and unalterable truth. By what definition is this humane and compassionate?

In the article above, I feel a lot less sorry for the police, firemen and other municipal workers than I would for members of the general public who stand about as much chance of collecting future SS and medicare benefits as do pensioners in Greece. In Central Falls, RI, at least those folks did it to themselves. They unionized, used that union clout to take over the city council, and then had the council vote them unsustainable benefits. So, they took their shot, thought they had figured out the greatest scam going...legalized theft so to speak, and now they'll suffer the consequences. Good. F*ck them.

But for all the other hard working, non-union folks who have factored SS and medicare into their retirement planning...well, beginning in 2030 or so, they stand about as much chance of collecting on promised benefits as do the good people of Greece. And I fail to see the "compassion" or "humaneness" in that.