The Real O.C., Part II

I start work tomorrow and spent a good four hours (and about $18) today printing, photocopying, filling out, and faxing paperwork into the agency that got me the job. At least I'll have a break from all that for a few months.

I also had to fill out a state tax form for California. Ouch again.

I read the Los Angeles Times over lunch and came across an interesting article about pension problems and benefit cutbacks in O.C. entitled "O.C. supervisors raise current retirees' healthcare costs" by Christian Berthelsen. Some highlights:

Retirees decried the move as unfair, saying they spent decades as county workers with the promise of affordable medical coverage in retirement. It was the second time this month that supervisors agreed to reduce benefits of retired employees; two weeks ago, they voted to move forward with plans to roll back pensions for retired sheriff's deputies.

Overall, costs for active employees -- who are generally in better health and therefore better risks -- are expected to dip 18%, but rates for retirees are expected to increase 34%. Their rates will increase much more if they are members of health maintenance organizations such as Kaiser and Cigna. Of the county's 6,000 former employees, about 2,000 enrolled in those plans will see rate increases of between 72% and 95%, according to a county staff report.

For some, that could mean additional costs of as much as $7,000 a year -- with most of the county's retirees living on annual pensions of less than $25,000. One retiree, Norma Roberts of Costa Mesa, said her monthly out-of-pocket expense would increase from $286 to $783 under the new rates.

The Real(ity show) O.C.

Tuesday night was the finale of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” I admit to getting sucked in, but I claim that it was all in the name of “research.” After all, those people are now my (distant) neighbors. Not that I’ve ventured into Orange County or particularly want to after watching the show.

To be fair, I think most families would come across as dysfunctional if cameras were trained on them. What struck me, though, was how ordinary, not particularly bright, and, to be frank, downright insipid the people on the show were…and yet, they are *loaded.*

Proof once again that wealth seems to follow no rhyme or reason.