President Obama Says He Supports Cutting Fixed Military Retirement Pensions
It is interesting that for fixed military pensions it is okay to turn these into 401k’s, but the minute someone mentions turning Social Security in a 401k suddenly the claims of throwing grandma at the mercy of the Wall Street casino comes into play. So how come it is okay to throw servicembers retirement at the mercy of the Wall Street casino while it is not for grandma? The answer is a lot more grandmas vote compared to servicemembers:
President Barack Obama announced Monday he will back sweeping overhauls to the military retirement and health care systems as a way to ensure the costly benefits survive into the future.
Obama said he will provide Congress a list of proposals by the end of April that will be based on the recommendations of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, a panel created by lawmakers to find solutions to ballooning personnel expenses.
The panel has advised the military to eliminate its 20-year pensions in favor of a 401(k)-style retirement system, and replace Tricare health coverage with a wide variety of private insurance plans. Those and a list of 15 changes to military compensation — including a consolidation of commissaries and exchanges — could save almost $5 billion next year and up to $10.4 billion per year by 2020, the panel claims.
“I believe the recommendations are an important step forward in protecting the long-term viability of the all-volunteer force, improving quality-of-life for service members and their families, and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of the military compensation and retirement systems,” Obama wrote in the letter to Congress. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but just think how much money Wall Street is going to make off of “service fees” for all these new 401k’s. Those guys always win.
I’m for cutting it(“Fixed Military Retirement Pensions”) and your attempt to vs. Wall Street is cheap. ServicethemselfmembersI(and their ilk) have been screwing the American taxpayers for a MUCH longer time.
So it’s GOP military WARDOGS and Military Industrial Complex/Military Industrial Congressional Complex job socialism vs GOP fire Wall Street cops/regulators, go cry in your beer GOPers. Hehehehehe!!!!!
…never seem to be an cuts in Section 8, food stampy programs, or medical care for illegal aliens to have anchor babies.
…for those libertarian, free market types this is what it’s all about.
I hope this doesn’t happen for the sake of future service members. Some things go belong dollars and cents. This is one of them. A social contract if you will. I’m sure service members are sophisticated enough to do market research and
gambleinvest wisely. If this happens, I expect the stories of homeless veterans to skyrocket in the next generation.I’m not against reforming the system, but this? This is ridiculous. Why not give everyone a $50K chip at Caesars and tell them to play black and keep doubling down depending on their life expectancy?
401k’s are better for the financial community than they are for the individual….
I recommend that those who haven’t watch this PBS Frontline report The Retirement Gamble which shows how the people who really benefit from 401ks is not the workers, but Wall Street. I wonder if any of the presidential candidates will try and make this a campaign issue?
CH: It should certainly be a campaign issue since one of the Presidents’ first and foremost constitutional responsibilities is Commander in Chief. The Frontline report is dead on.
But of course this won’t be an issue because it affects 1% of the population who serve. Then there’s the anti-government folks and those who would accuse soldiers of being “takers.”
Leon…
The current crop of rightwing leaders speak of privitization and free markets to transfer middle class wealth to their big business backers while ignoring the poor.
The current crop of leftist leaders speak of fairness and equality to transfer middle class wealth to their big business backers while keeping the poor dependent.
Nobody is really representing the middle class… though the middle class will fight with each other while blaming the “other” party for all the problems.
Politicians divide and conquer the middle class by giving no real choice. Big business divides and conquers the politicians with equal campaign funding. The poor do as they are led through programs that encourage helplessness and dependence.
The middle class works hard and pays for what yearly deficits won’t cover… in a shrinking job market.
It will be interesting to see how long this lasts.
CH, I think we have both been sating that for quite some time. Some of our fellows who comment here vividly illustrate this hypothesis.
CH’s comments are always so well written.
It’s a shame they always make me feel slightly depressed and worry about the future…..
All this lip service for the middle class by politicians on both sides, with no one visibly taking measures to make things better.
Me, I’m just trying to get my foot in the door. I’m actually looking forward to making it into a higher tax bracket.
Bought a study book for the CCNA. Hope to take the exam in the next few months. Any advice from you IT long timers?
“Bought a study book for the CCNA. Hope to take the exam in the next few months. Any advice from you IT long timers?”
Learn to speak Hindi so you can better train the guy who will replace you at half your pay.
Refer to my previous comment……..
O.K.
Here is some good news for you to feel better about… maybe.
It will really depend on where you fall in the Digital Divide… or, more accurately, the Digital Skim… as the population is not going to be divided… but a very small percent will be skimmed off the skillful top to live as they choose, rather than just live.
A robotics revolution is coming. A few years ago, everybody looked funny when this was said. Now, it is in the news.
But the “news” is just about as accurate on this as it is on everything else.
The reality is, in a few decades, everything people need will be free… and much of what they want will be cheap… and, as many people will be spending more time in virtual worlds than the real one, they will have small physical desires… perhaps a temperature controlled dormitory, basic meals, a toilet, and a VR rig jacked into an imaginary world far more interesting and risk-free than the real one.
Crops will be grown by machine… and harvested… and processed… and prepared… and delivered… beautifully presented, perfect in taste, flawlessly consistent, tailored to the nutritional needs of the individual… every man will eat every meal like a king.
Minerals will be mined and refined by machines… and forged into parts designed mostly by heavy AIs… which will be assembled into products from transportation to amusement… and every man will have whatever he desires at his whim.
“…all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.”
Does that give you hope?
It is coming.
But, of course, there is a dark side.
What will be the medium of exchange when labor is no longer necessary?
Third order creativity… for a few. First order creativity has already fallen to machines which write our pop songs and act out computer-generated battles in computer-generated landscapes.
Perhaps many people will exist only to serve for the amusement of those who control the secrets of the machines, the thinking code of the AIs, and the resources they require to operate.
Everyone reading this now has a chance to get in on the infancy of what is slowly coming…
…so when it fully arrives, they are at the top rather than scratching their heads and wondering why they didn’t think of Google first.
If you have confidence in your abilities and a desire to excel, this should be the best news you have gotten all year. Otherwise, it might make you feel depressed and worried.
Or, perhaps, a life of dependence that is better than how 99% of the world currently lives is not so bad. And that might be good news, too.
Surviving the growing pains in getting there is going to be the trick.
“Everyone reading this now has a chance to get in on the infancy of what is slowly coming…”
We just bought a 3D printer! 🙂
My son starts High School this summer, and is going to one of those STEM Magnet schools. We visited and I saw all the robotics stuff, and 3D printers. I told him that with the robot as a skeleton, and the 3D printer to make body parts, he could build himself a girlfriend. He gave me a bad look. 😉
But we are rapidly reaching a time where we can have anything our imagination desires. Any and every toy, ready at the push of a button.
CH can build and print out the tranny of his dreams: just submissive and haggard enough, fearful, yet lusty.
Leon can surround himself with lean, strapping young men in uniform, with nary a female in sight.
I can race through the mountains against other cyclists, just at my level of skill, winning by the narrowest of margins.
As for TBone? Well, let’s not delve too deeply into that well of madness.
But once we have all that we want, for good or for ill, then what?
Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it…
The future looks bright! Kids that get everything they want turn out nice. Real good, very nice Danny….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkJcFGvNgcY
@15- LOL, maybe Ole Tanker can have his own robot that hunts down LQA offenders.
@16- Funny as well, how did you ever find that video?
You have me figured out MTB. Those strapping young lad minions I will have can go out and fetch me all the young maidens (and possibly well maintained MILFs) I desire. Screw doing the leg work.
/though one does harken back to the old saying (and Deep Purple lyric) “It’s not the kill, it’s the thrill of the chase.”
#17 Yes. The Fraud Detection Robot will use a unique capability to cross reference the names of people from different countries, Korea, Germany, Italy, the Phillipines..etc.
The database will dynamically link relatives and names given, or by marriage back several generations, children and education records.
Marriage records and familial relationships. Then link the names of people to their employers, landlords, acquaintances and their relatives as referred to before.
It would track their bank accounts and transactions, income , and tax records highlighting those significant transactions just under the $10,000 thresh hold.
It would track LQA payouts by region. Cross referencing the aforementioned accounts and transactions.
Link this to and incorporating the DEA advanced money laundering and interference tracking system. (AMLITS)
Then the coop de grasse, will be the draft beer spout “Ego Detection” robot. Just developed it use thermal imaging and spectography (sp) to analyze anatomical anomalies in the social environment.
Planted at bars in LQA fraud “hotspots”. (The domestic version will be placed in hair salons and nail parlors.)
It will detect a “swelled head” and and “disproportional” elevation of self worth evaluation.
Noted will be penile erection as well as dysfunction. Female nipple swelling, caused by the excitement of “big payday” syndrome. Big butt cheeks due caused by fat wallets. Added is ‘facial recognition” software that will link the social network of possible LQA benefactors present and getting round after round of drinks.
Just a note, the prototypes have been tested for years at Air Force Bases though out Europe, where they detected egotistical pilots and Squadron Commanders who commited sexual assault.
Psychologist have connected the two, through thorough analysis, at first the link isn’t clear, but it is found that LQA fraudsters are screwing the American taxpayers just as a sex offender assaults a victim.
The same pleasure centers in the brain are excited by both activities. Strong evidence links pedophiles also. Trips to Thailand and the Phillipines will be included in future versions of the LQA FD Robot. Yes! FDR saved us once and will do it again!
Invest in AstroTurfnow and retire comfortably.
MTB,
“CH can build and print out the tranny of his dreams: just submissive and haggard enough, fearful, yet lusty.”
First, you don’t print tranny love dolls… you mold them. Can you imagine trying to get it on with an rock-hard ABS tranny? Well… except for certain parts. No, it has to be molded from soft, supple silicone.
Second, how did you know one of my key turn-ons is haggard? Too fresh of look is a deal-breaker. I only want trannys that look like they have been smoking meth in a sewer spillway for a decade.
Liz,
What do you plan to do with your 3D printer?
Tanker,
The interesting thing is that not many people have the ability to set up the system you described… but a decade or so from now, anybody will be able to explain it to an AI which will set up the system you described.
“Robot Revolution” also means an AI, sensor, image processing, perception, etc., revolution.
CH,
My post is just to emphasize that a lot of LQA fraud has a hidden side. The $ is often going back into someone’s pockets. Be it a KN with a family name different than the receptee, or a relative of a spouse who uses their married name.
Maybe the employer of a spouse of an LQA’er is subleasing the property to them.
The $ gets laundered and maybe is just cash flown into the PI on a flight.
If you have hired someone from the states with a non complicated spouse, than more likely than not the LQA will be honestly disbursed.
I know you would prefer to do the “nipple inspection” in person, but I don’t trust you!!
Tanker,
I do not disagree with you… but I learned some years ago that pointing out open fraud, waste, and abuse will only be met with denial, rationalization, and personal attack… rather than honest consideration and discussion…
…because so many people are benefiting… and it has become institutionalized to the point it is considered an expectation… even an entitlement… with the attitude that, since everybody else is taking advantage of it, I am foolish to pass up this opportunity that is being thrust upon me.
Poor people are not the only ones bought off through dependence.
Interestingly, those who defend fraud, waste, and abuse so aggressively, are fantastically whiny when they become a victim of the System.
But fukk them.
CH.
IKR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5cL-h3Pj1o
Johnnyboy, regarding IT certification, you need to know that certs without work experience don’t buy much. I recommend getting a copy of “Don’t Send A Resume” and “What Color Is Your Parachute?” and going through them like that’s your next certification. Once you determine where you are and where you want to be, the path is a lot straighter. I’ve only been in IT since 1976, so you might find someone with more experience. I have had a mix of self-employed, student jobs, contractor roles, and Fortune 500 jobs. Don’t make Custer’s mistake of deploying his resources before he knew where to fight. You can be better than the 98 percent of folks that just play the resume game and can’t seem to find a good job.
And yes, it took me too long to figure it out, too.
If there is a ROK Drop Page of Collected Wisdom, which there really should be, Setnaffa’s wise words should be there.
I appreciate the tips from all.
Even if the CCNA doesn’t land me a job, this study guide isn’t the cram book type. It’s fairly extensive, so it is helping to reinforce and fill in any gaps for all the courses I have taken so far.
I will still go for the CCNA. I will just lower my expectations as to its helpfulness in a job search.
My degrees are in network management and cyber defense. I am hoping the two combined with my good grades will give me a slight (possibly razor thin) edge over other entry level applicants. Perhaps a CCNA will show ambition, even if that’s all it does.
CH,
With the coming robot boom, do you recommend studies in PLC programming or is that going to be overtaken by some other standards?
I would say I’m trying to stay ahead of the curve, but it seems abundantly clear that I am now really trying to catch up to it.
Thanks again for the advice from all, even Ole Tanker. Now I know how to spot the LQA “Terminator” if I ever decide to go that route.
johnnyboy,
Not sure which direction you plan on going, i.e. working for the private sector, or working for the government as a contractor or GS. If it’s the latter, there are certain base requirements like A+ and Security+ (at least that’s the army way, don’t ask my why CompTia certs are so important, they just are). As someone already pointed out, certifications will certainly get your resume looked at, but those certs must be coupled with experience in the specific field you’re applying for. Anything dealing with cyber/network security is hot right now and IMO, will remain so for the foreseeable future. Oh, and one more thing…network, network, network. Some may deny it but when it comes to working for the government, it’s partially about who you know vs. what you know. True story. Good luck 🙂
“don’t ask me why”
where oh where is that edit function for those early morning pre-coffee typos?
Pertinent portion around the 2:40 mark.
Those Union hating conservative pilots REALLY love their own Union. Clearly, it’s the only good Union!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNxz2hhSXuY
With all the talk of IT work in this thread, I figure I’ll pitch in with a series of announcements I’ve been following recently that may be of interest.
For anyone working in IT over last generation, the name Microsoft either got your praises or curses. Well, some of the things I’ve read recently seems to indicate significant changes coming.
I’ll start with somethings that’s specifically affects Korea. I and others have pointed out here before how Korea overcommitted to Microsoft and its proprietary technology. You visit a shopping website and the signup registration process assumes you are using Internet Explorer with ActiveX controls and if the ones it needs are not installed on your computer it will require you to allow it to download and install what it needs. Most Koreans just accept that is the way it must be done and comply because most of their online financial institutions and government websites have (had) the same requirement.
Well that’s changed. Last year, President Park pushed for an initiative to move government website off of Internet Explorer proprietary standards. Most of Korea’s financial institutions have followed suit. The government migration should have completed last month. Korea’s web interface should now be much more open standards.
Those changes are coincident, or maybe not, to news that Microsoft is discontinuing the Internet Explorer line of browsers. Microsoft says IE will be replaced by a more streamlined, open standards browser code named Spartan that will no longer support ActiveX !!! Web developers all over the world rejoice; they will no longer have to code for non-standards compliant browsers.
Another problem we mentioned about Korea’s internet was the vast number of users with unlicensed (pirated) copies of Microsoft’s OS on their computers. They were unable to receive security updates and were very vulnerable to being hijacked and used by hackers. Well, Microsoft is about to help out with this problem too. They recently announce that the next release of Microsoft OS will not only be a FREE upgrade for users with licensed installations but also will freely upgrade unlicensed installations !!! Everyone with illegal software gets amnesty and will have access to the most secure and up to date version of the software, for free.
These are changes that have happened and will happen. There are also suggestions of things that might happen.
Could anyone predict any of this? Who knows what’s next? Planning a future in IT is like trying to hit an erratic moving target.
Let’s try that link again.
“With the coming robot boom, do you recommend studies in PLC programming or is that going to be overtaken by some other standards?”
Hmmm… I am not really qualified to answer this… as I don’t work with PLCs.
For the types of simple repetitive jobs that a PLC is good for I simply use a PIC or Atmel microcontroller combined with current drivers/motor controllers/sensors/etc. I write software in C as there are fantastic libraries to control just about any available component… from common touchscreen LCDs to GPS chips to servos. With appropriate housings, which I machine, they have set on desktops, flown in the air, and gone very deep in the sea.
I have a stack of new PLCs someone gave me… and my one weekend of playing around with them felt like a throwback to the 80s.
The next step is custom Android software controlling a microcontroller over Bluetooth (a Bluetooth module is five bucks)… though I have now moved to browser control… meaning an Ethernet module (wifi or wired) with a web server that post data on a web page and has links to activate processes. I have not done a commercial project with this system yet but I have a test systen at home to turn on lights and read temperature and humidity from any device on the network… even iPhones
Next step up would be Raspberry Pi… but that is my summer project.
When something more complex is needed, the PIC or Atmel interfaces to a PC and does the sensing and control while the PC does the heavier thinking. The PC can be programmed in C or VB or Matlab. Matlab is a gift from God… as it has unbelievable libraries.
An example is Matlab image recognition where a webcam sends an image to Matlab which recognizes a human form and controls a microcontroller running two tilt/pan servos which keep a laser pointer always targeted on the head… or a shotgun… your choice. Add facial recognition and your grow operation is safe… even if you walk in with your hands up and a gun in your back. This is within the capability of a used notebook and 50 bucks in parts… and a shotgun.
Every problem has a solution.
PLCs are very reliable, rugged, and secure for many tasks… and they are likely to stay around… however, what passes for a PLC today will not be the PLC of tomorrow in terms of programming.
Contrasting the PLC is the “PC”… larger systems that work together and do complex thinking… with easy-to-access communications and sensing ability.
But the real leap is the programming. The future will not be a basement full of pale coders. It will be the blue collar guy who wants the job done explaining it in English (or Spanish?) to the computer which will understand and comply… as will the PLCs. This has already started.
I don’t know if there is much future in classical PLC programming… better off being able to write programs that write programs for PLCs… and if you can’t do that today, you are likely too late to the game.
Since I mostly do one-off projects that generally have low expectations in hopes of accomplishing the impossible rather than in a commercial environment with expectations of maximizing efficiency or cutting costs, I am somewhat disconnected from industry and current trends (or fads).
My customers are happy they got something that even works.
If I was to make a prediction, I would say the guy who is a motion control guru or a sensor god would be in pretty good demand… though not necessarily a government job… except for the likes of DARPA.
This requires a textbook understanding of the physics, datasheet knowledge of the hardware and interfacing specifics, and the programming ability to get the most from it… with value added for the tricks of the trade learned from experience and self-starter experimentation… with bonus points for tricky coding and clever hardware mods.
This can likely be learned better by someone who wants to know it than by someone who went to university for it but didn’t care.
I study many hours a week just on the latest hardware hacks floating around the Internet… as it gives me inspiration to solve problems when they come my way.
But that is my story and may have little relationship to your hopes and goals.
One thing is for sure… I have no desire to work for the Man… except as an outsider where they come begging for a solution and leave giddy and greatful they got one… with a bonus being I mostly keep my own schedule and can pass up jobs I find dull, difficult, or cheap.
I’m not sure there was any good advice here… but perhaps there are things to consider as you plot your course.
P.S. I am guessing you are in the second half of your 20s… meaning you aren’t some broke-diick old guy showing up begging for a tech job with a couple pieces of dubious paper and no experience.
PPS… If I had to get a real job, I would research exactly what the company needed and I would prepare a portfolio of my projects that demonstrated I could solve their problems. I would know at least as much about the company as anyone who worked there. My cover letter would be a shameless example of self-promotional salesmanship with buzzword-free explanations of my skills and why the company needed them. I would interview the interviewer to find out more about what they needed and I would send a follow-up email within hours documenting how I could meet those new needs. I wouldn’t make a single diick or farrt joke… and the word ChickenHead would never come up.
PPPS… if you are at all interested in anything I discussed, I can suggest resources and, if you play with it, give you my solutions to problems you might face. I love to geek out… but half the people I know are hung up on TV/games and the other half have their head in a bottle or are chasing skirts.
@27- Chickenhead, you ask and you shall receive.
Outstandng.
I was thinking more of a post… updated with new (edited-down) quotes whenever there is some concensus that something is worthy… perhaps even catagorized… such as “Employment”.
Of course commemts would be strictly policed on this particular issue.
johnnyboy,
In reply to your question on programming (that wound up on the Collected Wisdom page instead of here)…
“What would you suggest I self study on in my spare time?”
That would depend on what you planned to do… network admin, webpage design, video games, rocket science, etc.
At this time, no matter what you do, you should probably be able to get around in Java/JavaScript and C/C++/C#. You can look up the differences and concentrate on flavors.
SQL for making (or hacking) databases is useful. Assembly is impressive and irreplaceable when needed. Python, PHP, and Ruby are popular in certain circles. If you go into any science or engineering (or support for these), Matlab is necessary.
Side Note: I “learned” Matlab in a weekend of lying in bed with a notebook after it was pointed out that I could easily solve an image recognition problem in less than a hundred lines of code while thousands of lines of my from-scratch VB code was unreliable… as I tried to reinvent the wheel. In fact, one of the demo programs was very close to what I was trying to do and I was able to cut and past a large section of it with a few modifications.
Decide the specific things you want to do and look up what languages they require. Again, Java and C are a must no matter what you do in the world.
While I love BASIC and (embarrassingly) admit I write a lot of VB programs for robotic/machine control interfaces, I would suggest spending the same time on C++ would be a better idea if you were looking for a job.
“Can it be programmed and compiled for free (or in a Microsoft product; I have access to many of their products)?”
JDK (Java Development Kit) from Oracle is free and open source.
Android SDK (Software Development Kit) for Java is also free if you want to write apps for your phone.
If you have Visual Studio, you will have Visual BASIC, C++, and C#. While C has some very clever advantages over BASIC (such as for-loops that can have amazing structures) everything now uses the .NET framework… which is BRILLIANT… as it allows a very easy-to-remember and consistent hierarchical structure to address any hardware or software functions… and there is not much difference between BASIC and C.
“Can it be learned from free tutorials?”
Absolutely. I am not a tutorial guy… WAY too dull, long, and drawn out for a little bit of information payoff. I am more goal-oriented. When I want to do something I don’t know how to do, I download one of the MANY examples of just about anything. I then put a comment at the end of each line explaining what it does. If I cannot understand what a line does, I study harder. By the end of the program, I have a perfect knowledge of how it works.
I mention this because I feel it is more instantly gratifying to solve an immediate problem and there is a better chance of remembering the information than dryly working through a tutorial that is quickly forgotten with no real use… at least this works for me.
Side note: While it is out of fashion, I put a comment at the end of EVERY line of code I write. This helps me remember what I was doing when I go back to it months later. I frequently reuse sections of my own code… such as port access, communications monitoring, various data processing algorithms, etc. I could keep these separate as modules but I like all my programs to be one, single .EXE file with no reliance on the registry, Windoze install, or ten thousand .DLL files scattered throughout the hard drive.
I loathe lazy, sloppy, bloated programmers… and, judging by examples I look at, even many “professionals” are code hobos.
BUT…
Before you start playing with programming, do yourself a favor and study PROGRAMMING STRUCTURES. That is the important information. After you understand how to set up a ring buffer or take advantage of an interrupt… or can define an object, class, inheritance, interface, package, etc… or understand threading… or the list goes on… you will find programming easier in any language.
These days, languages are all pretty simple and not too different from each other except in details that can be found on a list and studied in minutes.
But programming concepts are far more complex than they were 20 years ago… maybe 10… maybe 5. Too many people focus on programming and not on learning the structures that make amazing and efficient programs.
OK. I am spent for now.
Speaking of software programming and FREE, Microsoft now offers a free Visual Studio Community edition of its developers’ IDE which is much more feature complete than the previous free Visual Studio Express edition was. The Community edition will load any of the plugin extensions from the galleries where the Express edition couldn’t.