Few people (outside of PERS member and retirees) understand the physical and emotional toll all the legislation and litigation is taking on PERS retirees. Yesterday's Oregonian reports the obituary of the first documented PERS retiree to have committed suicide after feeling forced to retire prematurely in order to preserve the benefits he'd accrued over 26 years. While the person committing suicide had a lifelong history of depression, the PERS retirement seem to put him over the top. We don't know how many other PERS retirees' lives have been shortened by all this. I'm loathe to impute motives to anyone, but it is hard not to think that a cynical reason for all this uncertainty has been to shorten the life expectancy of PERS retirees and, in so doing, reduce the benefits actually paid out (this reduces UAL's too). I know this is a really cheap shot, but after reading the obituary of such an accomplished public employee, I can't help feeling a bit of enmity towards all those responsible. When the anger gets particularly acute, I relieve it by singing a few bars of Shawn Colvin's perky little sonnet called "Sunny Came Home".
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