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Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
SurfPuppy, while I agree with you about 90 percent of the time, I have to say that I most vehemently disagree with you on the argument that public unions are a bigger threat to the poor and middle class, and to the nation as a whole, than the banking sector and Wall Street, =============== Let me outline my view on why I take this position. I say this because the public unions get “regressive taxes” raised, major raises (in sales taxes a 1 point raise is usually a 10%-15% increase in the tax), to pay for their pay and benefits. The raising of the sales tax - like in National City-one of the poorest cities in the nation yet they raised their sales tax to 10%+ to fund $200K cop/FF comp packages- to cover the costs of a select group of government employees that are already making several times the median state income. In the case of National City it is even a higher %, cops/ff's comp probably more than 10 times the median income for National City. Poor people should NOT be forced to pay that, not with that kind of pay and benefit discrepancy. You have poor people making minimum, and near minimum, wages, most with no benefits whatsoever, being forced to cover the cost of compensation for government employees being compensated in the top 2%-3% in the entire nation. Think about that, one of the POOREST municipalities in the nation are grossly overtaxing their poor citizens for the benefit of a select few government employees who are receiving one of the RICHEST compensation packages in the nation. That is as upside down as it can get. Wall Street is without a doubt a HUGE problem, on the macro level. But the feds just print more money, money that everyone has to pay somewhere down the road, but states and local muni's can't print more money so they MUST raise taxes and it is ALWAYS regressive and hurts the poor and middle class the hardest. I am no fan of Wall Street. I would like to toss half the employees there in the Big House, make a flaming sign post out of them to send a message to all future financial scammers that might try what the Street have succeeded in the last 10-20 years..— March 2, 2011 9:56 a.m.
New Border Pedestrian Bridge to Open Soon
Wow, I didn't even know they were buildign a new overpass...have not been to the border in 20 years.....— March 1, 2011 8:47 p.m.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Good little story. It is always easy to take the easy road when you're young, instead of putting the time, effort and sweat of college or some other training. Then 10 years go by and you're in the spot Jennifer was.— March 1, 2011 8:47 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
Goldman Sachs would have, and should have, been forced into BK when AIG failed. There was NO REASON to back AIG's insurance to GS at 100 cents on the dollar. Wall Street has majro problems, and I am no fan.— March 1, 2011 8:01 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
Lerachs firm, what is it now Stoghia or something??, is still a leader in class action securites litigation. Liek I said-even after the PSLRA was passed it did nothing to Milberg Weiss, they still cornered the market on those lawsuits. I want to know how their class action against So Cal's Marcus and Millichap office turned out........— March 1, 2011 6:17 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
Wall Street had nothing to do with how these pension funds invested, you invest in risky investments instead of T-Bills then you roll the dice- and sometimes it comes up snake eyes. It is the FAULT of the public pension funds, with complicity from Wall Street, for making bad investments. One thing is for sure-taxpayers who have no pensions in many cases, and they are not going to back stop the $75K-$300K retroactive pensions of public employees who have contributed 5% or less to their own pensions. If you took the money the gov employee actually contributed to their pensions, and the ROI, it would last 2 to 5 years and then it would be depleted.— March 1, 2011 6:13 p.m.
Retirement is Not What it Used to Be
Excellent comment. It was actually Senator Daniel Moynihan that came up with the raise the rate idea back in 82. He should have been taken out and shot for that fraud.— March 1, 2011 4 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
Nan, I blame PUBLIC unions, and ONLY public unions, not any unions in the private sector. Big difference PUBLIC unions are the biggest threat today to the poor middle class. The average state gov employee with 30 years of service in this state is "retiring" in their mid 50's with a PENSION at around $70K, for local muni's it is around $85K, and those are general employees, not the "public safety" who retire at age 50 with 6 figure pensions. Those numbers do not count the healthcare costs which add $15K-$25K more. The MEDIAN wage in the state is $33K. The MAX you can get from social security is $30K at age 67, not in their 50's. Age 67. The portion public employees actually put towards their mutli million dollar pensions is about 5%, many put nothing in, it is "picked up" by the employer taxpayer. That money they are getting is a scam.— March 1, 2011 12:45 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
surfpuppy...i can also see u don't know about the merits of class action securities suits. None of Lerach's cases were ever thrown out of court for lack of merit. =========== JV, please don't try to lecture me on securities law, I took the class in law school and have a solid understanding of it. We specifically studied the private securities litigation reform act (PSLRA). It did NOTHING to stop or even slow down Milberg Weiss, who had a corner on that market before PSLRA passed, and had the same corner after it passed. Now, I DO know aomething about legal ethics (the ONLY required class at virtually EVERY ABA LS), morals and the law-at least when it comes to Lerach. Lerach/Milberg were engaged in fraud, they had built in "plaintiff's" that allowed them to be able to file class action secuities lawsuits-that is a fact. Let me refresh your memory, or update it. Lerach is a CONVICTED FELON, he served HARD time in the Joint. He was DISBARRED. I won't even go into the fact he hired disbarred lawyer Pat Frega to do "lawyer" work on his cases back in the 90's. Nothing more needs to be said about the felon, except this; . http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail… . . http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Tran… .— March 1, 2011 12:30 p.m.
Lerach: Don't Blame Public Union Members. Blame Wall Street
surfpuppy....don't shoot the messenger. Lerach is right. ============ If Lerach says public employee compensation is NOT A PROBLEM (which is what I got from Don's short piece here-I did not read the source at the HP) then he is wrong. So I am forced to shoot him even if he is just a messenger.— March 1, 2011 12:27 p.m.