Don’t ignore positives of public pension funds

The positives of public pensions

As a local educator, it is dis- turbing to witness the obvious negative statements focusing on the state’s public retirement system by Ohio’s newsprint media.

My career began in 1977 with a meager salary of $9,200; others before me earned even less. While others of my generation chose to work in factories or other college-educated careers at double and triple the salary we educators received, I accepted this unfortunate situation. My acceptance of this plight was knowing one day there would be a decent retirement for my wife and I, and it would come from one of the oldest if not the oldest and finest state teacher’s retirement fund in the country.

It is abhorrent to see this negative treatment aimed at the retirement funds of the police, fire, highway patrol, and welfare workers, who put their lives on the line for us everyday. This is in addition to the above treatment levied against the educational community.

I would like to share some facts with the public that they may not know:

In 2009, 129,600 retirees received benefits from State Teachers Retirement System, of which 109,000 still live and spend income in our state.

In 2006, the five pension plans (public) paid out $8.29 billion to retirees, helping to drive our state economy.

Also in 2006, the aforementioned systems paid $4.3 billion in income to 79,000 job holders working for the retirement systems.

Again in 2006, another $702.5 million had been paid out in taxes by retirees and beneficiaries to the state.

In 2008, management costs for STRS were 24 cents per $100 of assets, while costs for 401K plans were costing $1 per $100 of assets.

Let us also not forget that those of us who worked in the private sector and have accumulated the necessary quarters for Social Security are financially paralyzed for our decision to be fruitful workers in both public and private sectors.

In closing, the public and many Ohio companies benefit from investments made by the retirement funds and the money spent by the hundreds of thousands of public retirees in our state.

William D. Barron, Youngstown

Mill Creek’s power to revitalize

I Am first-generation Valley (1977), and I plan to leave only in a box. Since coming here I’ve become a big fan of Mill Creek Park. At times I’ve felt like it was my private park. It has to be the most underutilized but valuable resource in this area.

We are all tired of the jobs situation in the area, yet we do virtually nothing to promote or develop a natural resource that can’t close or move away and has the potential to become a new industry in and of itself.

Mill Creek Park has the potential to make the Valley a destination point. I can hear the laughing but one only has to compare MCP’s potential with those that advertised in the recent “Destinations” section of The Vindicator as a cause to pause.

If the park only had a beautiful lodge for people to stay and enjoy all of the park and the other area assets out there. Think about the number of excellent golf courses that could be packaged. Wedding parties could actually stay instead of leaving after pictures. WRTA shuttles could actually have people on board to move people around to sites like YSU, the Covelli Centre, Butler Art, the malls, Riverside Gardens, etc. With some upgrades the park itself could/can offer hiking, bike trails, sledding, ice skating, fishing, horseback riding and much more. YSU has a hospitality management program that could become a player.

Benton Harbor, Mich., was a lot like Youngstown. It has reinvented itself using a similar approach.

The area needs to get out of reverse. We need to stop living the GM, steel plant, Silicon Valley dream and start utilizing what is real before all of our kids have moved away. Those that think I’m nuts only need to visit my old stomping grounds around Cleveland and see what has become the Cuyahoga Valley National Park — one of the most used national parks in the country.

Timothy Ryan, Newton Falls

Libertarianism: A better way to go

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, especially since it’s one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but I am guilty of envy. I’ve been experiencing a growing resentment towards conservatives and liberals for possessing something I lack.

A superior political philosophy? No, because I share in the best each has to offer. Admirable political figures? Certainly not, because both persuasions want more control over my life, just different aspects of it.

I envy these polar opposites because each have their own readily available and finely tuned “echo chamber”. They enjoy the luxury of tuning in almost anytime of day to their favorite cable news channel to have their respective opinions and beliefs echoed back to them.

An effective “echo chamber” is created by carefully blurring the line between covering the news and commenting on the news . The details and facts surrounding a story, topic or event need to be skillfully omitted and/or creatively interpreted. Because the purpose of an “echo chambers” is to produce a desired impression for the viewer.

Even outside the shows labeled “opinion” or “commentary”, a conservative or liberal slant is present. Because cable news, like our two-party political structure, feeds and survives on the idea that there exists only right vs left, republican vs democrat, good vs evil.

While I don’t fit the mold that cable news caters to, I can still enter my “echo chamber”. It’s just more difficult, requires a great deal of channel surfing, and subjects me to differing opinions.

However, with the increases in the size of government, federal spending, and civil liberty violations, to name a few, under the Bush (conservative) and Obama (liberal) administrations, I see an increased interest in the libertarian philosophy of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. This interest and the willingness of people to form opinions outside the “echo chamber” is becoming more mainstream. And the more this combination of principles gains traction, the harder it will be for cable news to ignore the viewers and political figures that embody these principles.

So, I guess since the virtue of kindness is directly opposite the sin of envy, I should end by saying something kind: It’s still better to watch slanted news than no news at all.

Bill Hegarty, Poland