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JustPEG's comments:
on The Battle of Seattle
I had a different experence protesting the WTO in Seattle. I went as a member of my union. As a wheelchair user, I had a small team of union brothers and sisters who helped me get around, pushing me in my chair to the rally and the whole length of the demonstration parade route the first day. I was deeply moved by the wide range of people who showed up at the protest; young and old, labor and environmental and groups not easy to label.
The protest that I participated in was large and free of violence on all sides. It wasn’t until we were on the train, headed home to Oregon that we even started to hear about violence. For me the protests were a brief time of hope that people could influence change for the good of us all. Ten years later I am not as hopeful as I was then.
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on Stuff
When I retired, I found my relationship to my stuff changing. It has become much easier to part with things I had held on to for years. Some stuff I’ve given to family and friends where I know the stuff is a good match with the person and will have a good new home. Other stuff goes to Goodwill and becomes a modest tax deduction to help my budget.
Years ago I tried to hold garage sales, to get more money for the stuff I was sending on, but it was too painful. Watching people paw over my beloved stuff hurt enough. To then be offered half of what I already thought was too low a price for a treasure was more than I could bare. Somehow it is easier to give my stuff away than to try and sell it.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Recovering PERS
I think your points are well made and I appreciate your comments. I am deeply concerned that the debate gets framed as public employees against workers (we are all workers!) and some how the big corporations continue to demand and get big tax breaks so they can ‘gift’ the state with jobs. They also sit back and watch the various worker groups fighting amongst themselves while workers pay an increasing percentage of the public bills.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Recovering PERS
Interesting idea, but I think this gives in to the pressure for public employees to fight each other instead of fighting the real problems.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Recovering PERS
When I retired from 30 years of public service, I made the decision to stay in Oregon, knowing full well that I’d be paying Oregon Income Tax as well as property tax on my home. I could have moved to one of several states where I could avoid state income tax on my PERS benefits, but I really love Oregon and decided that continuing to pay state income taxes and county property taxes that come to over $3000 a year is still worth the privilege of living in one of the best places on earth.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Recovering PERS
In the intro you only give a small paragraph near the end to how the PERS fund is doing this year. While it is true that 2008 hit the PERS Fund hard what financial fund didn’t tank in 2008?) the Oregon Investment Council has worked wonders since the financial melt down. In September 2009 (the most recent figures posted by the Oregon Treasury and PERS) the PERS Fund stands at $50,556 million which is UP from September 2008 when is was $47,9115 million. This is a major recovery since the fund’s lowest point in March 2009 of $41,532 Million. Yes, the sky may have come close to falling in the past year but the PERS Fund recovery is coming faster than in other sections of the economy.
One subset of the total fund, the Variable account has shown 31.07% growth between January and September this year!
All I am asking is that you be fair in reporting about the health of the PERS Fund.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Recovering PERS
One of the underlying issues with PERS is who pays for what. As mefearless47 has said, the Oregon Investment Council has done a very good job of beating the investment odds over the life of the investment fund. Actually that has helped create some of the problem because the PERS employers came to rely on good investment returns and talked the PERS Board and management into lowering the employer contributions. Now that investments are more challenging, employers are crying about increases to their contributions and they are pointing the blame at workers!
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on Rx: Personal Values
I've been retired 6 years and in that time I have seen my health care coverage go down (vision coverage dropped, reduced payment for services, increased co-pays, fewer medications covered) while my out-of-pocket premiums have doubled. I want many things from our health care system but the top of my list is affordable access for everybody. I expect to have access to the same doctors and other providers so that they can get to know me and my medical situation.
Beyond that, I want access to what is often call alturnative medicine. The last 5 years that I worked I was in a wheelchair. It was a combination of Acpuncture and herbs that let me recover and no longer need a wheelchair or daily pain medications. I think that if a treatment modality can be proven effective, it should be part of the medical services available to anyone who wants it.
peg
posted 3 years, 9 months ago
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