That's what GOVERNMENTS ARE!!!!
"Pension fund chief has bonus after loss; Board says state outperformed indexes, peers" by Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | August 6, 2008
Despite presiding over a $1 billion loss last year, the executive director of the state's pension fund will receive a $64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary because the fund outperformed the market indexes and many other major state pension funds.
While ROADS and BRIDGES are falling apart and SCHOOLS are CLOSING!
What, $322k not enough for him?
Michael Travaglini, who is already the highest paid state employee, and his two top aides will get a 20 percent bonus under benchmarks set by the nine-member Pension Reserves Investment Management Board in October. The other 23 members of the management staff will get bonuses of 16 percent.
These guys should be hung for robbing the citizens of this state.
The retirement fund LOST MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The bonuses are kicking in as Travaglini is campaigning for salary increases of up to 5 percent for the agency's staff, according to agency documents. But facing questions from the Globe yesterday, the board's chairman, State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, pulled the pay increases from the agenda for today's meeting.
The bonuses and the recommended raises come after the $50.6 billion fund registered a 1.8 percent loss for the 12-month period ending June 30, its first loss in five years.
Yeah, GREAT JOB, guys!!!
Alex Aikens, a board member and a Brandeis University adjunct business professor, strongly defended the bonuses, saying Travaglini and his staff can take credit for saving the pension fund from even greater loss because it did far better than the Standard & Poor's index and its peers among other public pension accounts. Aikens voted against the bonus plan last year because he believed the plan did not pay enough.
"If they achieve better results than the indexes and their peer group, then we are doing well and they should be rewarded," Aiken said. "If we have people who beat those returns, the way I see it is that the pensioners have done well."
Ahem. It is ALL TAXPAYER DOLLARS!!!!
They should be REWARDED while this state is IN SHAMBLES?
And let us not forget the INTEREST PAYMENTS and BANK PAYMENTS from the BIG PIT, either!!!!
But these guys are getting bonuses for LOSING LESS than the OTHER GUY!!!
And you wonder why I swear here?
A year ago, Travaglini and the board faced criticism for a bonus plan that would have doubled his salary to well over $600,000 by meeting certain benchmarks.
After a Globe story outlined the plan, Cahill, faced with opposition from Governor Deval Patrick, pulled back the proposal. A scaled-down version was passed in October.
Yeah, but these state leaders aren't FLEECING US or anything!
Holy-effin-crap am I ANGRY!!!!!
Need MORE PROOF, readers?
"No golden getaway, says Pike ex-boss; Amorello denies he inflated his exit pay" by Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | August 6, 2008
Matthew J. Amorello, the former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman accused of ethics violations, delivered an impassioned defense yesterday of his actions in the days before his resignation from the transportation agency.
"I did nothing in my time leaving to enhance my position at all," Amorello testified at a State Ethics Commission hearing.
Amorello faces conflict-of-interest charges after being accused of helping to shape a policy on the buyback of unused sick leave for turnpike employees - a policy that made him eligible for as much as $73,000 in extra pay when he resigned.
Yup, nothing like ROBBING US on your way out the door, scum bag!!!
Readers, this is more $$$ than I make in THREE YEARS!!!!
The buyback policy allowed five senior staff members who resigned to receive about $130,000 in extra pay that they would not otherwise have received, according to Ethics Commission documents and testimony.
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Let's see, what else can we find:
The state must come up with about $200 million a year for the next 20 years to pay off an estimated $13.3 billion in looming healthcare costs for its retirees, according to a stark new report by a Beacon Hill commission.
If the state acts now, and begins socking away the money every year, it could reduce those costs to $7.5 billion, the report says. The report was vague about how the state could come up with the money, and lawmakers are already struggling to fund repairs to crumbling roads and bridges, pay for the rising cost of the state's new healthcare law, and provide property tax relief to cities and towns.
Legislators warned that they may not be able to find money for retirees' healthcare unless they slash other programs or cut benefits for future retirees - options that are sure to meet stiff resistance from the powerful retirees' lobby.
Yeah, never mind those corporate lobbies.
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My advice to anyone living in Massachusetts or thinking of relocating here: DON'T!!!
This state is in TERRIBLE TROUBLE!!
We are BORROWING for EVERYTHING and putting up with SO MUCH of THIS!!!!!
