I'm very well aware of what the crooks did, of course. Although thanks for the bringing up the pension aspect. Amazing how tangled this thing is. I don't have any ties to banks. And I've belonged to NFCU since 1980.
And you hit the crux of what upsets me the most. The fact that they refuse to go after the crooks and instead go after the taxpayer. George Carlin had it right.
George has a potty mouth folks, so if you don't like potty mouths you may not want to watch this.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/894932/
I know the pension thing firsthand:
If you read the "
Notice of Critical Status" I received last year that said I will loose almost a third of my retirement payment if I retire while our
United Food and Commercial Workers plan is in crisis, on page 2, 3rd paragraph, you will see the header "Employer Surcharges", which in summary
states- the employers have a binding contractual agreement to pick up the primary tab of a pension funding shortfall.
Now fast forward to
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=4614 , 5th paragraph of the "David Meets Goliath"
section, which states, in part:
"For example, the system is legally required to make all actuarially required contributions, according to Stella, and it carries an enforcement stick just in case.
If participating local governments choose not to fork over their calculated amounts, the plan can simply grab it out of that locale’s state aid.
WRS also has the authority to increase employer and employee contributions without legislative approval. It did so recently, increasing both rates by 0.6 percent."
Wisconsin- had one of the best according to the Minneapolis Fed:
Isn't that what you would want from your pension fund manager?
Yet in the pension world, this modesty would be the envy of plans across the country. While pension plans are almost universally underfunded at the moment, some plans have weathered the storm better than others.
In the district, two plans at opposite ends of the spectrum stand out: the Wisconsin Retirement System, with $80 billion in assets, and the city of Sioux Falls, S.D., which sponsors two separate plans for general workers and firefighters, and has assets of about $350 million.
In each case, these pensions are hard-wired to keep fiduciary responsibilities front and center. They offer modest benefits and make required contributions that keep the actuaries happy; each has a more conservative investment expectation than its peers and a few unique wrinkles to protect members and taxpayers from catastrophic events.
We need more Georges.
That's a great clip.
