Reason #34,878 why pensions need to be eliminated; State lawmakers fleecing taxpayers to enrich themselves

Promising employees, and themselves, taxpayer money to not work isa concept doomed from the beginning. It was made worse since the politicians didn't fund their promises knowing they would be long gone by the time the bill came due.In essence, they bought votes with IOUs. And to make matters even worse, they vote themselves money in the same sense that crooks simply steal it. Via Instapundut: HOW STATE LAWMAKERS pump up their pensions in ways that you can’t.

At age 55, South Carolina state Sen. David Thomas began collecting a pension for his legislative service without leaving office.

Most workers must retire from their jobs before getting retirement benefits. But Thomas used a one-sentence law that he and his colleagues passed in 2002 to let legislators receive a

taxpayer-funded pension instead of a salary after serving for 30 years.

Thomas' $32,390 annual retirement benefit — paid for the rest of his life — is more than triple the $10,400 salary he gave up. His pension exceeds the salary because of another perk: Lawmakers voted to count their expenses in the salary used to calculate their pensions.

No other South Carolina state workers get those perks.

Since January 2005, Thomas, a Republican, has made $148,435 more than a legislative salary would have paid, his financial-disclosure records show. At least four other South Carolina lawmakers are getting pensions instead of salaries, netting an extra $292,000 since 2005, records show.

Pension perks aren't unique to legislators in South Carolina.

More than 4,100 legislators in 33 states are positioned to benefit from special retirement laws that they and their predecessors have enacted to boost their pensions by up to $100,000 a year, a USA TODAY investigation found. Even as legislators cut basic state services and slash benefits for police, teachers and other workers, they have preserved pension laws that grant themselves perks unavailable to voters they serve or workers they direct.

Outside of government, people go to jail for doing any such thing. These lawmakers are thieves. Related: Rush Limbaugh - I Think What Is Called For Ladies And Gentleman Is A Brief History Of Pensions