The Open Forum PERA retirees need security now

I happen to be one of many PERA retirees you blithely wanted to keep from receiving annual cost of living increases in the recent past to address PERA liabilities. I am also a previous school employee who paid into the system over the years with the hopes that my pension would allow me a reasonable income to enjoy my golden years.

Of course, now PERA is concerned about future retirees, you are concerned about taxpayer monies, and I am concerned that increased cost of living will continue to take more of my income each year and potentially reduce my ability to live on my retirement.

Unlike current employees, we retirees have little chance to adjust our incomes in varied ways and cannot foresee the exact number of years we have left on this earth. Although l.5 percent barely meets realistic yearly cost advances (versus salary adjustments many state employees enjoy), we received nothing in 2018 and 2019 and will receive 1.25 percent in 2020.

Yes, we paid less into our retirement, but we also received less as a result in previous years. Does anyone oversee or question the reliability of PERA investment? Are we to be penalized because we are now just the proverbial “stones” around PERA’s neck? I would like to think I made a valuable contribution as an employee and would like to think that my time spent in that employment would be respected and valued throughout my lifetime. bank when they couldn’t get loans from regular banks. One hundred years strong, the BND protected cities, counties and the state itself from the financial collapse of 2018 that hit Colorado and its citizens so hard. It has been providing funding for civic projects and programs, charging lower interest rates than for-profit banks and returning it’s profits to the state in a variety of ways. It is an adjunct to, not a replacement for, our current banking system.

I think it’s time to bring public banking to Colorado and its cities and counties to shield our public monies from the vicissitudes and collapses of the “Wild West” that is now corporate banking and the stock market. PERA might benefit from such a structure. I urge public officials and our state legislators to investigate this creative option and reach out to the Rocky Mountain Public Banking Institute for more information. PERA deserves better and so does Colorado.

Megan McArdle makes good points but seems to overlook the big opportunity presented by the president’s vulnerability on so many issues.

The Democrats loss in 2016 has been attributed to neglect of the struggling working class. Therefore, correcting this weakness and going on offense with workable progressive ideas and picking a candidate who can take our country into a better future will be a winning strategy.