Federal retirement is not what it used to be

I am a retiree.

As a reader might recall, I am what is officially called a federal 'annuitant.' This means I retired as a federal civil service and I am receiving a fixed-benefit pension. My federal civil service plus my military service buy-back gives me a pension that, combined with my Social Security benefit is ample enough for me to live "carefully comfortably."

[Note: the current federal retirement benefit is made up of three parts -- payment for length of service; Social Security benefit; and self-savings from the government's Thrift Savings Plan, similar to the civilian "401K" plans.]

I also pay to belong to a federal employee/retiree-oriented group called the National Active and Retired Federal Employees, NARFE. Each month, I receive their magazine and, each month for the past year or two, I have become less and less comfortable reading it. Why, you might ask? Let me explain simply.

As the recent issue says, the current administration and "some members of Congress are quick to see Feds as a piggy bank when it comes time to set the budget, despite the fact employees already contorted over $120 billion in deficit reduction..." These members of Congress and the current White House do not regard employees and retirees in the Executive Branch at the same level as previous members and administrations; combine that with the significant loss of federal revenue from the recent massive tax cut [which, by the way, largely benefited the group of people least needing tax relief, while almost totally ignoring the groups that did] means that the FY 2020 budget will have to be draconian in the cuts.

And it will be.

Through the budget reconciliation process, five Senate committees are required to combine $94 billion in cuts over a five-year span from programs under their jurisdictions. One of them is the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is required to cut $15 billion from mandatory spending programs, mainly federal benefits.

Reading these words makes my blood pressure either go up or drop. In either case, it is difficult to understand why the head of the Executive Branch would treat his own employees and retirees with such disrespect, especially when they - we - have already given up so much...that is, until I consider the incompetent, selfish, extremist administration currently holding the White House. They came in hoping to unravel the administrative order and are well on their way to doing so.

I am glad I retired in 2011. According to a former colleague of mine still working, looking back, daily life has gotten much, much worse and looking forward, the future is much less appealing. I believe him when he says he will have difficulty finding anyone willing to go into federal service, especially considering changes to the federal pay, compensation, and benefits plans and the recent painful furlough, which I would bet will happen next time, too.

That is not at all what I experienced through most of my career.

I guess I should stop reading that magazine.

Random musings

We are about two weeks into the new administration in the United States and what a tumultuous time it has been. Protests, marches, even school children in New York City ditching classes en masse to protest the confirmation of an entirely-unqualified billionaire, Betsy DeVos, to head up the U.S. Department of Education. She was probably put there by Trump to dismantle the Department my father worked for so long; I do not have respect for either of those people.

I have been working diligently on my genealogy blog and notice the readership has increased slowly. I have nowhere near the thousands or more that read many blogs, but increased numbers was never the goal. Hopefully, at least one new reader working on his or her own family tree will glean some helpful hints on the journey.

My last W2 form came today, so I will work on finalizing 2016 taxes and get it out of here. I feel just a bit that this will be a final cap for what was, for me, a truly miserable year, and not only in the political sense, though that certainly contributed. I spent the year driving the truck, really pushing myself to make money to cut some of these bills I have down to size. I think it worked, but it also took a big chunk out of my life-energy. I want this year to be more relaxed and enjoyable.

I have also volunteered to be a transcriber for Baha'i Center web talks. So far, I have done one, and it was a good one. It was by Annette Reynolds, a South Carolina Baha'i. She spoke of what we used to call the "mass teaching" efforts there and the lessons learned from those efforts in a highly racially segregated state. This will prove to be a valuable, educational exercise for me, I hope.