LETTERS: To make PERS sustainable, apply Social Security retirement rules
To the editor:
The debate rages on as to how taxpayers can continue to fund the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System in its present form (“Bill to change PERS introduced in Nevada Assembly,” Tuesday Review-Journal). While PERS recipients receive overly generous funding and benefits, private-sector workers are somewhat limited to mandatory funding of Social Security, a federal defined-benefit program. Private workers also have optional IRA and 401(k)-like retirement plans.
A big difference between these defined contribution programs and PERS’ defined benefit setup is that the defined contribution programs are optional, self-funded, and the results are subject to individual investment choices. Another major difference is the IRA/401(k) contributor always retains access to the balance of the account, but with few exceptions cannot withdraw funds without a tax penalty until age 59½. Social Security and IRA/401(k) participants cannot retire “early,” while some PERS recipients can draw retirement income in their 40s.
If moving existing public employees off PERS is not an option, then what? The solution may be at hand. Apply some or all of the Social Security retirement rules to PERS. Social Security retirement income is based upon 35 years of inflation-adjusted earned income, not just the three best income-enhanced years used by PERS. Unless one is disabled, Social Security recipients cannot retire until age 63, and even then, it’s at a reduced amount. Social Security contributions stop once employees earn $118,000, while their maximum 35-year full contribution benefit is just under $30,000 per year.
Make these adjustments to PERS now. It’s likely there are a number of other tweaks that would be necessary to move PERS into a more realistic and financially sustainable retirement system. An old PERS and a new PERS seem perfectly acceptable to me.
RICHARD RYCHTARIK
LAS VEGAS
Desai’s appeals
To the editor:
I almost spit out my coffee while reading that Dipak Desai’s attorney, Richard Wright, said, “Desai’s family worries that he won’t get proper medical attention in Las Vegas while waiting to enter his plea on the fraud charges” (“Desai hoping to take plea in Reno,” Feb. 18 Review-Journal). Seriously?
This poor excuse for a doctor masterminded a plot that created life-threatening medical situations for thousands. His family worries that he won’t get proper medical attention in Las Vegas? That’s as laughable as his “diminished capacity” ploy.
Hang him by his toes — and do it in Las Vegas.
TRICIA ANSLEY
LAS VEGAS
President’s missteps
To the editor:
Ro Chapman stated in his Feb. 17 letter that President Barack Obama saved the country from collapse. However, nothing was mentioned about all the things the president has done to run this country into the ground.
Look at the debt that he has saddled America with — more than all the previous presidents combined, by the time he’s done. How many undocumented children were let into our country from Central America or wherever? Who pays for that? The American citizens. Unemployment is low because many people have given up finding a job. A person can’t find a 40-hour job with a fair wage in order to raise a family because most jobs are low-paying with minimum hours.
Obamacare is hung up in the courts, and people who have Obamacare might end up losing it because it is full of holes. This is on top of the people who lost their insurance when Obamacare went into effect. It sure would be nice if some people would see the other side of President Obama, for a change.
GENE GRABAU
LAS VEGAS
Protect state’s real wealth
To the editor:
Decades ago, Rachel Carson wrote, “The real wealth of the nation lies in the resources of the earth … and cannot be a matter of politics.” Despite our state’s empty coffers, Nevada is rich. The intrinsic value of our state’s cultural heritage and natural beauty far surpasses any amount of revenue attained from development on our pristine Garden Valley and Coal Valley.
More than 70 percent of public lands remain unprotected, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. The most important first step in preservation is building up a groundswell of public support to show members of Congress and the administration that Nevadans want to see public lands protected (“Lands bill could hamper Yucca Mountain Project,” Feb. 20 Review-Journal).
I have always felt profoundly connected to Nevada’s public lands. Red Rock Canyon is just 10 minutes from my home. As a UNLV student and senator within the student government, maintaining a healthy balance between college and my personal life becomes stressful. During the semester, I take hikes on my own, bringing textbooks to read in the solace of the wild. I find asylum in the beautiful landscapes of Nevada. These natural wonders have proved to be an absolute imperative to preserving balance in my life in the midst of urbanization and excessive screen time.
We have a choice to make in Lincoln County. We have the opportunity to choose preservation for future generations over irresponsible development for short-term convenience, to create refuge for stressed out city dwellers, to save some of Nevada’s most beloved species and to safeguard the existential record of ancient tribes. We must choose to protect basin and range as some of the last pristine valleys in our state.
DEMI FALCON
LAS VEGAS