Oh, yeah. She went there.
[quote]The second thing the government will
do is continuing all kinds of major reforms, with priority to be given to reforming the country’s deficit-ridden pension programs to salvage them from bankruptcy, she said.[/quote]
It will be interesting to see who comes out against this.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2017/01/24/490225/Poll-finds.htm
This thread could absorb another one:
In related news:
Chen, who heads the party’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee, on Wednesday told the general assembly of the Association of Retired Public Servants, Teachers, Military and Police of the Republic of China that “public officials, farmers, artisans and merchants” are essentially different and there is no possibility of “absolute equality” among them.
He compared the government’s pension reform to China under Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and called on the audience to “overthrow” a government that would “manufacture that kind of class struggle.”
A civil servants’ group says it needs money to pay for an office beside the Legislative Yuan, where it expects to go into battle for the next year
At least someone thought of the children. The new LY daycare has soundproofing to protect the little ones from all the protest noise.
The alligators:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2017/03/06/492964/More-hurdles.htm
Time to examine the Examination Yuan. Does Tsai have what it takes to drain the swamp? If the deadline gets missed, can she place the blame and make it stick, so the right bums get thrown out next election?
Politics is not necessarily the art of compromise.
These are not loopholes, but actual Arc d’Triomphe:
One example of a vulnerability in the pension system is a loophole in the National Pension Program (國民年金), which was launched in 2008.
In December 2016, media reports surfaced of the pension program footing the bill for 4,000 repatriated Taiwanese expatriates, paying about NT$170 million.
These overseas Taiwanese returned to Taiwan before turning 65 — the oldest age at which they can apply for the National Pension Program — and shortly afterward, gained residency and pension insurance benefits.
The situation was first publicized in 2013 by then-Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers and current Environmental Protection Agency Minister Lee Ying-yuan, who cited official figures that tens of thousands of overseas Taiwanese aged 60 and above were returning from abroad.
He also found that each year, around a thousand overseas Taiwanese aged over 63 would return to Taiwan, apply for residency and sign up for the pension program.
Around 4,000 people were already receiving benefits under the program, he said.
The program is an alternative for those who have not joined labor insurance, farmers’ health insurance, civil servants and teachers’ insurance or military insurance program.
As long as the insured person makes regular premium payments, they continue to be eligible for benefits upon childbirth, severe disability or reaching old age.
Due to the relaxed regulations overseeing eligibility for the program, an insured person nearing the maximum age would pay a small fee before receiving pension benefits once turning 65 years old.
Meanwhile, there are those in the program who have been paying since turning 25, the minimum age for joining the program.
Meanwhile, we have people being fired at 23 years of work… to avoid the payments.
The biggest problem is how much they receive afterwards. Recently on TV an ex mikitary was complaining that, with the 18%, he got a bit over 50k, and without it, it would be less than 48k. However, most workers might get 20k to 10k in pension… if their bosses report as they should and do not abscond the money.
This article really isn’t clear, but @SuiGeneris was asking about private school teachers’ pensions, so here’s something.
For reference, Korea:
On SK system—On the positive side, if your old, wealthy, single and randy, lots of possibilities! 
Good marketing slogan-----Korea, come and take care of our MILFS
That article gives the impression that the Korean generation that’s now around 80 never was doing all that well on average.
If the translation that I read of the law is right, Korea has civil code provisions essentially similar to the ones that both Taiwan and my home state have, which provide that, just as lineal ascendants (parents, grandparents, etc.) are obligated to support their minor descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.), so adult descendants have a like duty toward their ascendants, where the ascendants can’t support themselves by their own efforts. But who knows but that a court might hold that the lady in the article, who spends all day collecting recyclables for about 10000 won ($NT272) per day*, was supporting herself adequately? Besides, imagine trying to sue one’s kids for support.
20k or less: Whoa. How can they live on that?
*I’ve seen elderly folks here doing what looks like the same thing. I’m not sure how much they make, but I suspect it’s not much.
And on the other hand, some of those grandmothers resort to prostitution, as the article notes. 
I think that the percentage of elderly population that falls under the umbrella is lower in Taiwan. You have the veterans which are allegedly covered, but many lose their pension money to scams, bad marriages, overall corruption, for example. They are the ones without family structure in Taiwan. Family structure takes care of most, but the ones under the bridges are usually mentally ill, addicts and/or have been convicted and released.
Help! The vuvuzelas won’t let me think, let alone work! 
Vuvuzelas? Are you on a 出差 to South _Ef_rica?
Between the heat and the noise, I could.
The protestors have been wailing those air horns since early morning. Already took two headache pills. Seriously, I expected more maturity from ex cops and army guys.
Word of the day! 
[quote=“Icon, post:14, topic:157945”]
The protestors have been wailing those air horns since early morning.[/quote]
According to the Taipei Times, at least one of the participants went a little further in his enthusiasm:
“Is it right that Tsai should live a life of ease at the expense of the police and firefighters? Should [she] not be killed?” Lin Kuo-chun (林國春), who is president of the New Taipei City Retired Police Association and a New Taipei City Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilor was quoted as saying, adding that in a past era she would have lost her head.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/03/30/2003667730
The joke about certain government institutions is that they live in Ming Dynasty. Maybe better Warring States period. Those are the previous eras they refer to.
I understand there are many reasons why they hate her, but the depth and bitterness of that hate is really scary.
Taipei, April 17 (CNA) Activists angered by the government’s pension reform drive have decided to launch a “besiege the Legislative Yuan” protest on Tuesday, one day before lawmakers begin to review pension reform bills.
The protest by civil groups composed of public servants, teachers and military personnel was organized by the Pension Reform Oversight Alliance (PROA), which said Monday that it will first deliver a petition to the Control Yuan on Tuesday afternoon before marching to the Legislature.
Once there, its members will surround the Legislative Yuan compound, and protesters will sleep over on the compound’s grounds to continue the protest as the Judiciary and Organic Committee begins its review of the pension reform bills, the organization said.
National Federation of Education Union President Huang Yao (黃耀) said he expects at least 1,000 people to join the protest Tuesday. When the legislative review is held, it will be broadcast live at the protest site, he added.
In a statement released by the PROA on Monday, the group blasted the government as the culprit in pushing pension funds to the brink of bankruptcy and for trying to have people shoulder the responsibility for its bad execution of policies.
Expecting a big turnout for the protests today. Made early morning sacrifices to the rain gods so it will pour on them, hopefully with a few lighting strikes.
We are wrapped in chicken barbwire like Christmas presents. Ugly and depressing does not begin to cover it.
One could say the response is a bit too much, but as always, among the retirees, there are what we call in Spanish ganado bravo. The Miuras. the fighting bulls, heidao gooks for hire. Those are a problem. The speeches call for blood, and with a few bad apples in the mix, who knows what can happen.
I feel for the military. We owe them our lives, literally. But free cable is a bit too much. Complaining about making 40k instead of 60k makes no friends when most people scrape by at barely 20k. Tell me again why cubicle dwellers from public institutions should not get discounted utilities? Military and police maybe, as perks. But paper pushers? Free lodging, 18%… gets a bit on people’s nerves.
Nations suffering draughts should pay your for your ability to communicate with the rain gods.
I walked past them last week while trying to get to the MOFA. They were chilling under their tent, where Taiwan Independence flags had been for the past 3 years, and bashing how feeble the Taiwanese army is.
I can’t recall if this has been linked already, but the always awesome Frozen Garlic blog has a piece posted last month about the protesters and their signs:
Guy