It looks like the "finite" amount of money which could exist in our budget is being redistributed. Money is being re-distributed from those who earned those benefits by serving in our military to a shift to those who simply deserve them.

Just listened to a news commenter who was trying to justify the proposed military retiree benefits cutting deal. Very interesting. Let's see if the president will sign off on the cuts. He certainly likes the redistribution deals.

The general theory is that veterans are too young to receive all those benefits. I wonder if the same theory will hold for those youngsters age 21 and over who receive social security disability benefits because they are too stressed out to work like everyone else.

At least those getting the federal gifts make for a solid voting base.

This is a bipartisan budget deal. Don't expect the president to veto it unless it seriously affects one of his pet projects.

I'm sure the 1% from working age veterans seemed like a tiny little thing to Paul Ryan and Patty Murray, but it is a despicable little piece of political BS.
We should not approve any changes to any benefit package that was in place when people enlisted. Totally wrong, and should be illegal.

How about we cut Congressional pay and benefits first.

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

So the true impact of this Bill is to reduce costs in one area so they can be restored in another.

The Sequester would cut $52 billion from the Pentagon's budget in F. 2014, but if this budget deal goes through those cuts would be moot as the sequester would cease.

To find cost savings in the budget pension figures would be changed in the future in the cost of living adjustment that is an annual feature of government pensions. In the future the COLA would be COL minus 1%. The same will hold true for civilian employees of the DOD.

If a military pension is $22,295, which according to the DOD is the average, and the COLA is 1.5%, which it is for 2014, the increase in pension is $334 a year. Under the new budget it would be on .5%, or $111. This is a reduction of $19 a month.

During the years that the COLA was zero, as it has been several times during the past five years, pension amounts would stay unchanged.

Fox News had an interesting take on this about eighteen months ago.

Are Military Pensions Too 'Generous'? | Fox News

I agree 100% percent. I would cut every member of Congress' pay by 10% and slash their budgets and slash their staff. If you don't perform, which they have not, then you get less. Period.

Troops who have 3, 5, or even 7 tours in dangerzones in the last decade are gettting a cut in benefits. You got to be kidding me. They are already under paid. Total crap in my book.

Bet that the defense contractors won't have their flows of pork money cut. Asinine.

The government did this in Oklahoma. There was a great deal of screaming but the screaming died down.

There is the concept of shared sacrifice. In my opinion our troops are sacrificing way more than I am, and if my taxes have to be raised 2% so their compensation is not cut by 1% then I am sure I will find someway to survive.

Many public servants are feeling the pinch these days - policemen, firemen, sanitation workers, teachers, clerical, etc.

^^^

Solution is to:
(1) pay what we owe
(2) structure society so we don't need as many public servants (at least in the violence industries) in future.

(2) That's what drones are for...

No, that's what drug policy reform, energy independence, and withdrawal of support for criminal states in the Middle East are for.

I've long felt that the Military retirement system was in need of reform...and I come from a family of military retirees. Dad was an O-6 with 30 who lived 21 years in retirement. My brothers were O-5 (retired 25 yrs already) & O-4 (retired 18 years now).

Those are sweet lifetime annuities. Not much like that in the private sector.

An interesting and un-hysterical take. My father was retired Army. The vast majority of those who serve don't receive ANY retirement bennies. The system is outmoded to begin with according to the author.

First, the provision does not break faith with the vast majority of men and women in uniform, since most of them will not retire. According to DOD’s Office of the Actuary, responsible for overseeing retiree pensions, only 15 to 17 percent of the enlisted soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who served in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve long enough to retire. The current retirement system provides no retirement benefits at all to servicemembers who serve less than 20 years. If MOAA, which used to be called the Retired Officers’ Association, really cared about the overwhelming majority of the enlisted men and women who serve in the military, they would advocate scrapping the current outmoded retirement system in favor of a 401(k) type system for all who serve.
Second, the reduction applies only to working-age retirees – that is, military retirees who have not yet reached the age of 62. Since the vast majority of people who retire from the military in their 40s and 50s take other jobs, often using skills they have gained or developed in the military, their military retirement pay is not their sole source of income. Moreover, when working-age retirees reach the age of 62, their retired pay would be readjusted back to the full amount they would have gotten if they had received the full COLA each year. After 62, retirees would receive the full COLA adjustments. In other words, the COLA reduction is temporary, affecting only those who retire from the military but are still young enough to work.

Here

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

But not many jobs in the private sector pay so little and offer a possibility of being killed or maimed.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Eggzachary.

__________________
1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

What did the soldiers ever do to earn anything anyway?

It would be one thing to change the retirement system for those just entering service, but to change the system that was in place when someone signed up is just plain wrong. You either honor what you agreed to or you don't. The soldiers held up their end of the bargain. Of course expecting a politician to exhibit honest dealings is asking too much I suppose.

I wonder what the politicians reaction would have been if their own retirement plan were threatened with a cut?