It looks obvious

My Father in-law is past the official retired age; he is still working and will do so for at two more years. He is not working for the government he is working for successful company that build electrical switches. When asked his main concern about retirement is the cost of his and his wife health expenses.

My father in-law is a productive worker of a company that increases the wealth of this country. His salary is one of the managers of the company isn’t low but yet he needed to work many years to save for his retirement and, in his advance age, cannot do this yet.

My retirement is not at the horizon, and will not be for many years. I used to be proud being part of the private sector, working long hours, competing and straggling. It seems to me then that being a governmental worker is a compromise, admitting in a way being less cable for the safety of the government bureaucracy.

Somewhere along the way we start to accept the fact that our tax money pays for services we cannot afford by ourselves. It started with retirement benefits for low income and continues with the governmental employees. During times that companies cannot afford the cost of health and retirement plans and being force to move production offshore we are going to pay for incredible benefits for other people.

The NY Times reports today on the cost we, the tax payer, going to incur in the coming years:

“When the numbers are added up under new accounting rules scheduled to go into effect at the end of 2006, New York City’s annual expense for retiree health care is expected to at least quintuple, experts say, approaching and maybe surpassing $5 billion, for exactly the same benefits the retirees get today. The number will grow because the city must start including the value of all the benefits earned in a given year, even those that will not be paid until future years.”

But this is necessary, one might argue, to maintain the level of service that only the government can provide. Well, not exactly – ultimately even our government have to face reality.

 “To find the money, the authority will have to turn to "higher fares, less service, or more pressure on the city government to fork over subsidies," said Robert A. Kurtter, an analyst with Moody’s Investors Service who monitors New York’s finances. The city’s retirement system, meanwhile, will be struggling with the same problem on a much larger scale.”

Something is profoundly wrong with the fact that we are paying taxes so governmental workers will be able to get for free what most of us cannot even think about. it use to be known that it is better to work in the private sector, not anymore. We should change the balance back.