DEFICIT PROBLEM GROWS WORSE.The Government has a US$7.9 billion problem that won't won't Contraction of will not. won't will not won't will go away. In fact, it just keeps getting worse, reports Caribbean Business (Oct. 1, 2002). It's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have the deficit of the Government Employees Retirement System (the System), which provides retirement benefits to public employees. There are currently an estimated 169,700 active government employees--including those in central government, in municipal government, and in most public corporations--in a defined-benefit pension plan defined-benefit pension plan A pension plan in which retirement benefits rather than contributions into the plan are specified. Thus, a retired employee who has reached a certain age with a given number of years of service and has earned a certain income is , whereby pensions are linked to salary and years of service. Another 90,000 employees already retired are covered by a defined-benefit plan Defined-Benefit Plan An employer-sponsored retirement plan for which retirement benefits are based on a formula indicating the exact benefit that one can expect upon retiring. Investment risk and portfolio management are entirely under the control of the company. , which guarantees them and their beneficiaries retirement benefits for life. Every year, an average of 5,000 employees retire retire v. 1) to stop working at one's occupation. 2) to pay off a promissory note, and thus "retire" the loan. 3) for a jury to go into the jury room to decide on a verdict after all evidence, argument and jury instructions have been completed. . At that rate, the number of retirees receiving pension benefits from the System should more than double in the next 15 years. But by 2017, the pension fund will have run out of the money it will need to pay full retirement benefits to future retirees. If one considers the 169,700 active government employees who will eventually receive pension benefits from the System upon retirement, the projected shortage amounts to a whopping US$7.9 billion. So how is this multibillion-dollar problem going to be solved? You guessed it. Taxpayers may have to pick up the tab. Copyright 2002 |
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