Re:The Pension Hole for U.S. Cities and States Is the Size o...
by pmwhite on Monday July 30, 2018 @05:41PM
(#17648333)
"And if they were a "hero" and increased taxes to try and tackle it, they'd only get voted out next election, so someone else can come in, undo it, then spend all the savings."
George H. Bush is one of the few important fiscal conservatives elected in my lifetime, and he is despised for it, especially by people who like to claim they are fiscal conservatives.
This is why in both cases out-sourcing/privatization is popular. It shows a short term benefit, the long term is someone else's problem.
How can we expect politicians to care about the pension fund if the problem isn't going to materialize for tens of years pass the end of their term limit?
And if they were a "hero" and increased taxes to try and tackle it, they'd only get voted out next election, so someone else can come in, undo it, then spend all the savings.
In a theoretical Parliamentary Democracy, the "upper house," with lifetime terms would exist primarily for this function, consider the long term interests over the short term point-scoring. But no country that I know of can be described as having an effective upper house.