Military pension system for recruiting and retention rather than combat service

I’m sorry but I do not believe for one second that the walking blister bag in this photo just walked over 1,000 miles from Honduras in the last few weeks.

Today’s JG Rant
There’s so much wrong with James Silver’s letter, “Pension exemption by-the-book GOP scam” of Dec 13, 2018 it is little wonder the alert editors at JG chose to run it at the top of the letters section.

Mr. Silver, the 60s called and want their Democrat talking points back. The Democrat party is now the party of the “ultra-rich.”  Steyer, Soros, Moonves, Gates, Eisner, Dorsey, et al, 99% of Hollywood and entertainment glitterati, all of Silicon Valley, 98% of the well-healed mainstream media, the 6 and 7 figure salaried administrators in education, and an overwhelming majority of super-rich, know-nothing but none-the-less loud-mouthed professional athletes among others are all firmly in the Democrat camp.

PDJT won in 2016 primarily because the Democrat Party fixed its primary in order to insure the nomination of the most flawed, ineffective, out-of-touch and lazy candidate in the history of politics.  Democrats insisted on running perhaps the ONLY nominee that candidate Trump could actually beat, and he did. PDJT won not by appealing to the “super-rich” but rather by appealing to working class and coal, steel and auto union households in MI, WI, IN, OH, and PA.   

It’s nice to know that sourpusses like Silver think border security, lower taxes and patriotism are “scams” rather than sane and popular policy positions.  I encourage all Democrat politicians to run on the Silver platform.

The military pension system is primarily a recruiting and retention tool rather than a reward for being shot at.  Military members go where they told and do the job they are assigned. It’s that simple.  As long as they do that honorably and serve the requisite number of years, they are eligible for the pension they contracted for when volunteering.

To that point, it’s an all-volunteer force.  Contrary Silver’s contention, Republican voters volunteer for military service in far greater numbers than Democrat voters.   

Gov. Holcomb’s idea of providing a tax exemption for military pensions will be a great draw for retired military members to settle their families in Indiana. That’s probably a good thing.

Silver’s attack on Holcomb’s naval service is silly and petty.  He did his job.  Also, Silver seems to be unfamiliar with the first rule of naval service: Never cuss another sailor’s good deal.

Pension exemption by-the-book GOP scam

Republican Party policies generally benefit the ultra-rich, their primary source of campaign funds, and hurt ordinary citizens. They cut taxes on the upper class and give them loopholes you could sail a yacht through while raising sales and gasoline taxes, taxing our pensions, and now, under Donald Trump, imposing tariffs citizens pay whenever we buy a cellphone, computer or any product containing imported steel or aluminum.

Now, you might say that a party that advocated these policies would never get elected. You would be right. That's why Republicans depend on scams.

On the national level, the biggest scam is telling us we should be afraid of Immigrants or people who speak another language or have a different skin color.

Another favorite is the trickle-down theory: Give big tax cuts to the rich and they'll invest that money to create great-paying jobs for the rest of us.

Then there's the rally-round-the-flag-support-the-military scam, even though many prominent Republicans avoided military service like a plague.

This is the scam Eric Holcomb is employing now, proposing to exempt military pensions from Indiana income tax. 

There is no rational argument for treating military pensions any differently than other pensions or IRA withdrawals. Eighty percent of military retirees never served in a combat role. Even though he's likely not eligible for a pension, Holcomb is a prime example of a typical military career: He served his six years in the Navy in Jacksonville, Florida, and Lisbon, Portugal.

People who worked in schools, hospitals, factories, grocery stores and gas stations did just as much for our country as someone such as Holcomb, who occupied comfortable desks in congenial climates throughout his naval career. If they pay taxes on their pensions, so should everyone else.

James Silver

Fort Wayne