|
|
May 23, 2013
|
|
|
|
 Retirees Wake Up to a SwindlePosted on Oct 13, 2008By Marie Cocco The essential fallacy of the 401(k) has been exposed. It took a historic market collapse—one that threatens to impoverish workers already in retirement and those who are nearing it. But then, crushing hardship is often what’s required to usher out an era of ideological illogic and unconscionable greed. The advent of the 401(k) in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a leading indicator of what became a political mania for shifting the risk and responsibility for life’s big challenges—health care, an adequate income in retirement—from employers and other broad-shouldered institutions to the narrower, weaker backs of individuals themselves. It was never sold this way, of course. The pitch for the 401(k) was a contemporary version of the get-rich-quick scheme: The promise of strolling along a sun-dappled beach in retirement would be realized with ease, so long as workers regularly contributed modest amounts to the accounts, then let the compounding magic of the market work. To hear the mutual fund companies and the media tell it, only fuddy-duddies and dinosaur employers would be foolish enough to opt for the old-fashioned defined-benefit pension, the type employers paid for and professional managers oversaw, and which guaranteed monthly payments in old age. The type that gave the hard-boiled men and women of the industrial age security, but would never reward them with riches. The offer seemed good to media observers, and to the politicians who nurtured the do-it-yourself retirement with successive legislative schemes. During the stock market boom of the 1990s, esteemed business publications published breathless articles featuring manufacturing workers who would use their lunch breaks to track their mutual fund balances and ponder the possibilities of the loan they would take out for a cabin on the lake or an anniversary trip to Hawaii. Advertisement The 401(k)s didn’t expand the proportion of the work force with pension coverage, notwithstanding claims that shifting to accounts that required workers to contribute would make employers more willing to offer the benefit. Less than half of workers have any type of pension coverage from their current employer at all, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. For those who do have retirement accounts, the bottom line has long been grim. In 2004, the last year for which data are available, the median balance in IRA and 401(k) retirement accounts was $35,000, according to the Federal Reserve. For those nearest to retirement—households headed by someone between 55 and 64—the median balance in 2004 was $60,000. That’s enough to generate about $400 a month in retirement income, according to the research center. These numbers reflect balances before the current market meltdown, which wiped out about $2 trillion in retirement assets when losses in individual accounts as well as employer-based pension funds are tallied. How did this happen? Like so many other political experiments of the last three decades, it was good for the corporate bottom line—and therefore, supposedly good for America. The 401(k) plan was first promoted to supplement, not replace, traditional pensions, according to Alicia Munnell, director of the Boston College center. Over time, as new businesses were formed, they opted to provide only these accounts, eschewing traditional plans. More recently, even companies with healthy, traditional pension systems have frozen those plans (effectively abandoning their pledges to longtime workers) and replaced them with 401(k)s. Why? “Shifting from a defined-benefit plan to a 401(k) plan will reduce required employer contributions from 7 to 8 percent of payrolls to the 3 percent employer match,” Munnell and a team of researchers wrote in a 2006 paper. This was never about empowering workers to reap the rewards of financing their own retirement. It was about reducing corporate costs. “I think what has become clear is that we just can’t have a system where people are exposed to this type of market risk,” Munnell told me in an interview. Nor, in the age of global competition, can American businesses solely shoulder pension costs that in other countries are at least partially borne by governments. Some new system that might be called “Social Security-plus” must be developed. Remember that in a year or two, when politicians try to sell us on the supposed need to “reform” Social Security with something that really amounts to Social Security-minus.  Previous item: Keep This ‘First Dude’ Out of the White House Next item: The GOP Identity Crisis New and Improved CommentsIf you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy. |
Terracide and the Terrarists: Destroying the Planet for Record Profits
Email 
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Newsletter 
Like Us
Follow Us
Get Our Feed
Tags|Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|FAQ: Comments and Moderation | Google+
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
By PaulMagillSmith, October 17, 2008 at 1:11 am Link to this comment
,and here’s the real situation:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
Now, to reiterate my previous post, “How do we fix such a system that is heavily rigged against us?”
It’s obvious bloggers here know the problems. What we really need is solutions. Obama seems better than McCain, but after suffering the ‘okey doke’ factor for too long now, I don’t trust either of them to really effect change any more than I can shot-put a city bus…especially after they both voted yes on the most recent FISA bill. BTW, this isn’t new age negativity…it’s called REALITY.
Hey, Carla, check out that link I posted above (if you haven’t already been depressed by seeing it before).
Report thisBy cyrena, October 16, 2008 at 6:39 pm Link to this comment
• “Unemployment figures were fudged as well. You are only counted among the jobless during the time you are collecting unemployment benefits. After it ran out, you magically disappeared from the ranks of the jobless. I read a quote once that said “there are lies, there are goddamn lies, and then there are statistics.”
Here’s where your quote comes from Big B
• “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States by Mark Twain: “There are three ...”
There is also a book by the same title, and I still use it for a lower division course in my depart. (Law & Society) as well as some of the other social science statistics courses. It’s very readable, and I highly recommend it.
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9358.php
I’m also inclined to agree that the unemployment figure is far closer to 15%. Marshall, (another spinmeister republican who posts here) would argue this with you, but the facts really are the facts. We DID begin the 21st Century in a recession, and it reached depression status at least 4 years ago, even though no one has acknowledged it. The massive layoffs began as early as 2001, and haven’t stopped. It’s reasonable enough to suggest, (even without all of the numbers) that most of those people remain unemployed, (as do I) simply because the former jobs just aren’t there. (mine was in the Airline Industry, but there are all those from the manufacturing industry as well. The companies close, and the jobs go away.) For those who have been able to find other employment, the wages are nothing, and most people simply can’t manage to work 2 or 3 part time jobs, and have it pay off. So, they don’t. The rural areas of the country have become ghost towns, and we’ve been dying for years.
Report thisBy cyrena, October 16, 2008 at 2:07 am Link to this comment
By Big B, October 14 at 4:51 am #
Just think how well the stock market will do in a couple of years when the first huge wave of boomers hits retirement age. They will dump their 401K stocks on the market en mass, the the market will tumble and stagnate, stocks will drop in value, large corps like GM, Ford, and the airlines will abandon their pension funds in bankruptcy, and nearly everyone over 65 will be cleaning toilets at their local MacDonalds so they can afford the co-pays and deductables on their medicare plans
*****
UH…I hate to tell you this Big B….but…ALL OF THIS HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!!! That means that you’re AT LEAST a decade behind the times.
Those of us (including airline personnel) have ALREADY lost our so-called pensions, and it’s only those BOOMERS who were smart enough to continue to contribute to the NEW DEAL system, that are managing to avoid the toilet cleaning. Those smart ass whipper snappers that were ‘fooled’ by their corporate employers into thinking they could do the ‘get rich quick’ market scheme, are now crying into their soup. (though by now, they probably don’t HAVE any soup, since they thought it ‘acceptable’ enough to work for less than minimum wage).
Yep, ‘the man’ (that would be the CORPORATE SLAVE PLANTATION) told them it was so much ‘better’ to invest in those 401k’s, and the stock market. What can I say? Easy come, easy go.
If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is…
Report thisBy PaulMagillSmith, October 15, 2008 at 5:07 am Link to this comment
“...the pay of Congressmen would be linked directly to budget performance; if we go overbudget by 40%, Congress receives a 40% reduction in pay. For healthcare, citizens will be afforded the same health plan Congress guarantees itself; no insurance for us, no insurance for them.”
Now the problem is…how to get these millionaire Congress critters to vote AGAINST their own interests, and FOR ours. Sadly, it seems one of the main prerequisites for a congressional candidate is to leave morals, ethics, rational thought, and conscience behind at the door. For America(ns) to survive we MUST change this paradigm…but how?
Report thisBy jackpine savage, October 15, 2008 at 4:14 am Link to this comment
I knew one guy who had the 401k system beat; he swindled the swindlers. He was from Trinidad and visited the Caribbean every year. Before every trip down there, he’d borrow against his 401k to the maximum. He took that money with him and put it a bank there. Then he’d spend the rest of the year getting almost no paycheck because he was paying back the 401k. Which he would promptly borrow from as soon as he was caught up.
Of course, it was all pretax income that he was using, and at the end he’d only be withdrawing one year’s worth of 401k contribution to be taxed. The rest of all those years worth of contributions had been moved offshore.
Just a blue collar guy working 3rd shift at a book printing factory.
Report thisBy libertarian, October 14, 2008 at 7:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Spiritgirl, You’ve got the spirit, kid, but you’re canvas just isn’t large enough. All three branches of government, at the federal level at least, are dominated by lawyers whose first loyalty is to self, second to corporate patrons, third to political Party and last to constituents. A few examples: three weeks back, the Democrat leadership held hands with Bush-Cheney and leaped out of harm’s way as your nation’s private enterprise system was rolled over a cliff. Many years back, I wrote Sen. Lieberman and Sen. Dodd (CT) with two simple proposals to both balance the budget and provide healthcare: the pay of Congressmen would be linked directly to budget performance; if we go overbudget by 40%, Congress receives a 40% reduction in pay. For healthcare, citizens will be afforded the same health plan Congress guarantees itself; no insurance for us, no insurance for them. Don’t be misdirected by labels.
Report thisBy Spiritgirl, October 14, 2008 at 4:14 pm Link to this comment
For all of the “talk” about individual responsibility, and ownership society, that people have bought in to, this “conservative” movement has never been for the “average American”! The very meaning of conservative is to preserve(conserve) the old order. And what is that order you ask why it was the titled nobility, as America doesn’t have nobility it is to preserve the riches of the top 1% that have money of course!
Of course it’s a swindle! The average American has been swindled into believing that these people that are currently running the government into the ground are on their side. The average Joe doesn’t have a trust fund, yet he/she gets distracted by nonsense, that really doesn’t concern you! If you’re not gay than is it really any of your business! The fact that the current pack of rascals wanted to put Social Security into Wall Street - now that should be a concern to every American! Why because as the current crisis is unfolding it should be totally obvious to everyone that that was another great ponzi scheme!
It is time that we the people take back the reins of government from the crony, rich, thieves that they are!
Report thisBy Big B, October 14, 2008 at 12:53 pm Link to this comment
First of all, expat, up yours! How dare you flaunt living in a nation that values it’s citizens and it’s future? (good luck!)
One of the biggest problems/lies about our financial system is now becoming painfully clear, that being the fact that our government and banking system have been lying about the real inflation rate for decades.
Report thisDuring the recession of the early 80’s, the reaganites changed the rules about how the inflation rate was calculated, as well as the GDP numbers. The costs of housing, energy, food, and transportation were no longer considered in the consumer price index, thus adjusting all inflation figures lower. With lower inflation stats, the GDP looked higher than normal, basically leading everyone to believe in “fake” growth.
Unemployment figures were fudged as well. You are only counted among the jobless during the time you are collecting unemployment benefits. After it ran out, you magically disappeared from the ranks of the jobless.
I read a quote once that said “there are lies, there are goddamn lies, and then there are statistics.”
There is a growing number of economists that want to begin telling the truth. If you read up, you will see that many of them think the actual unemployment is closer to 15%. The actual inflation rate is over 10%, and the actual GDP for the last 3 years has shown no growth in the economy at all.(because they used to subtract the inflation rate from GDP to get the true economic growth picture, needless to say they don’t anymore)
All these stats together suggest that we have probably been in a recession since before W took office. He and his cadre have just chosen to exaserbate the problem by adding 5 trillion in additional gov debt.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
By yours truly, October 14, 2008 at 12:39 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The 40lK schemes weren’t designed solely to lower corporate costs but to perpetuate the myth of the ownership society. Thus the worker is made to believe that the old fashioned fixed pension that’s based upon the pooling of risk is a bad deal compared to what he/she could make by investing in the stock market. Never mind that few workers end up with enough in their private accounts to carry them for more than a few years post-retirement. The same goes for the private health accounts that are being pushed as the answer to Medicare, because it only takes one chronic illness to empty those accounts. What’s it all about? Everyone’s on their own, that’s what, and don’t expect any help from the government if you can’t make it, because it’s nobody’s fault but your own. After all you didn’t have what it takes. Meanwhile, the 5% or so of the population that live off of the rest of us have more than enough to provide for themselves abundantly through whatever sicknesses they may encounter and however long they happen to live. What’s the answer? Peaceful revolution, that’s what. How? Nationalization of banking & finance for starters, after which, corporations and businesses that borrow money must agree to democraticize their workplaces, which, given the political will, is doable right now. At the same time we demand that our government dismantle Empire-USA + demilitarization + decriminalization of drug use and there’ll be more than enough money in the national treasury to fund social security as well as health care for all. But will our next president and Congress take on all these challenges? It’s up to us.
Report thisBy JNagarya, October 14, 2008 at 12:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“By Purple Girl, October 14 at 5:48 am #
“Kinda Fucked Yourselves ah Boomers? GOOD.”
Let’s see if you know what you’re talking about, aside from perhaps-accidentally-semi-accurate generalization—
“In Fact . . . .”
Not unless you subatantiate it as BEING fact—which you DO NOT do—
“. . . perhaps
THAT’S accurate”—“MAYBE”.
“. . . US younger genreation should actually institute some of the ideas you all have been proposing since the ‘80s (ya know that ‘Fuck your own Parents’ ideology you’ve been sporting up until you all turned 65!).”
Those were implemented by the “Gratest Generation” Reaganites, by whom you love to be told that it is “Libertarian” “individual responsibility” to vote Republican—against your own interests—so you can not only “responsibly” cut your own throat, but also be “individually responsible” by buying the knife with which to cut your own throat for yourself.
“Let’s save some Coin and eliminate Medicare and Social Security.”
That’s what the “Greatest Generation” Reaganites/“free market” rapists propose. Are you for that, or against that?—you don’t say.
“Let’s Freeze & Seize their Ill gotten Assets.Let’s literally build Warehouses to Rol these SOB’s into and forget about them!”
AGain, what are you saying?
“Boomers have been fucking the older and younger generations since they plopped thier fat spoiled asses down in the Italian Leather High back chairs in the ‘80’s.”
SOME “Boomers,” empowered by the Reaganite “Greatest Generation,” have been doing that. By contrast, it was the “Boomers” who opposed and ended the illegal US involvement in Vietnam, which was implimented by members of the “Greatest Generation”.
“The Greatest Generation Spawn this FIRST generation to Ignore the American Value of Caring for our elderly and making the way easier for the next generation.”
The Reaganites were the WEALTHY MINORITY faction of the “Greatest Generation” that OPPOSED the “New Deal” proposed and implemented by the MAJORITY faction of the “Greatest Generation”.
“They have not Only Sucked the Marrow out of Our Country ..they have Poisoned the what scrapes they’ve left behind.”
Clue: the “Boomers” are not ALL Reaganite-spawned REPUBLICANS!
“Granted Not All Boomers Sold their Souls to make a buck,but enough did to Label them the WORST GENERATION!!!”
A MINORITY did it; and they sucked in their efforts because illiterates SUCH AS YOU bought they transparently false promises. Now you blame someone other than yourself for your errors.
“These guys started their Drug crazed Ransacking in the ‘80’s, and I’m supposed to feel sorry for them..Fuck ‘em!”
Excuse me? The “Boomers” allegedly began their allegedly “drug-crazed” pro-peace people-before-money efforts in the 1960s. Where were you at the time? voting for the Nixon-Agnew members of the “Greatest Generation”?
Report thisBy TAO Walker, October 14, 2008 at 11:44 am Link to this comment
“Individuals” are by definition suckers for “The Great (CON-) Game.” Easy pickin’s by the schemers is their entire reason for being. Rogue by-products of the toxic decay of “nucular” families (themselves a degenerate artifact of the civilization process), “individuals” are in exactly the same relationship to their ruling tormentors as are beakless and drugged fowl (raised in “confinement”) to the chicken-shit owner/operators of this “global economy.”
Tame two-leggeds who bought-into the 401-K scam thought they saw a chance to “get something for nothing”....which is to say, of course, to “profit” at somebody else’s expense. That is precisely the rotten core of every single pyramid scheme that has ever come down the pike.
Up until the other day it was still maybe just barely possible to believe that the bill for the last couple generations’ self-satisfying orgy of “comfort and convenience” had been successfully shuffled-off onto the backs of the great-grandkids. At least two trillion “dollars” of “taxpayer guaranteed” debt shoveled into the maw of this “melt-down” shows that there are still legions of damned fools out there who are sinking ever deeper into that fatally self-serving delusion.
The entire “global” contraption runs on gangster rules….and the rule is FEAR (now metasticized again into another in a long line of outright reigns-of-terror). The financiers themselves half-live in constant abject terror of their human livestock getting up on their hind-legs, finally, and calling this monstrous bluff. They’re betting the domesticated people can be cowed into submitting once-and-for-all, and even gratefully, to the institutionalized degradatiuon that is the here-and-now essence of their actual condition.
So here we are, again, presented with the same old threatening demand….“Your money or your life!” Give ‘em the money, Sisters and Brothers, and take your chances with the free wild Song ‘n’ Dance of Life Herownself!
HokaHey!
Report thisBy Roy, October 14, 2008 at 11:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
After 8 years with my employer, the company discontinued the pension fund saying something like “more and more these days, companies are offering 401K plans as the sole retirement benefit to its employees.”
At the time we had both, and neither was all that good.
The 401k plan makes a matching contribution of 5 percent, nothing more was offered to offset the discontinuation of the retirement plan.
Switch and no bait.
Meanwhile, the annual report showed that the company pocketed a $15 million annual savings from discontinuing the plan.
Report thisBy Hulk2008, October 14, 2008 at 11:32 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Rawb & Purple Girl,
Report thisYou’ve got your generations mixed up, Chillun’. The Boomers have not yet quite begun to retire - certainly NOT the ones that built those objects of your misplaced ire, SSA etc. Take your gripes and lay them directly at the feet of all those sweet little old grannies and gramps you say still love you so much. Like Cosby said, they’re just old people tryin’ to get into heaven - THEY are the ones that stole your lunch money and your future - the “Greatest Generation” are spending away your inheritance on Depends, Prozac, and costume jewelry. Check it out: no Boomers lounging around in their gardens - we still be workin’. It’s those ancient blue-hairs in leisure suits and mumus driving around Queen-Mary’s and eating out every night at Cracker Barrel. They set all that stuff up - and they are enjoying every penney of it - AT YOUR EXPENSE. Purple Girl, since you are so hung up on outlandish language etc., put this image in your head: Your Gramps is shagging YOU, not the Boomers.
By Itch-Kep-ee, October 14, 2008 at 10:21 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The 401k is the biggest swindle perpetrated on the american people in the history of this country.
Report thisBy rawb, October 14, 2008 at 9:13 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
i agree with you purple girl, but instead of just wheeling them into warehouses maybe they should be re-educated through labor. i see plenty of aging boomers with loverly gardens and yards, all nice and green: there is still some work left in ‘em yet! this could even solve the “immigrant problem”... or perhaps enterprising individuals could buy futures and swap derivatives based on this new-found commodity.
Report thisi think we even could get help from the last of the “greatest generation”, grand-parents love to spoil us, and they likely have an axe to grind…
By Allan Krueger, October 14, 2008 at 8:23 am Link to this comment
Dear Purple Girl,
I suggest you go to assertiveness training in order to help you get out of your shell - so you can tell us what you really think!
As a boomer, I have been paying SS since the 1960s - to support the generation who came up with the scheme to begin with. I am now 6 decades old and have about 60K in the bank and no other pension or retirement in site - unless you count SS…
A child could have seen that the numbers would not work when we retired - saddling the younger workers with the cost of our retirement. I have two grown kids, 33 and 28, and I don’t know if they have done the math and are as angry about everything as you are.
For your consideration: most of the boomers are not on George Bush’s Christmas card list. AND, as a boomer, it makes me want to puke that the WORST PRESIDENT EVER is from my generation… I don’t blame you for being pissed, but, we are not all lying, greedy slime…
Report thisKinda Fucked Yourselves ah Boomers? GOOD.
By Purple Girl, October 14, 2008 at 6:48 am Link to this comment
Kinda Fucked Yourselves ah Boomers? GOOD.
Report thisIn Fact perhaps US younger genreation should actually institute some of the ideas you all have been proposing since the ‘80s (ya know that ‘Fuck your own Parents’ ideology you’ve been sporting up until you all turned 65!)
Let’s save some Coin and eliminate Medicare and Social Security. Let’s Freeze & Seize their Ill gotten Assets.Let’s literally build Warehouses to Rol these SOB’s into and forget about them!
Boomers have been fucking the older and younger generations since they plopped thier fat spoiled asses down in the Italian Leather High back chairs in the ‘80’s.
The Greatest Generation Spawn this FIRST generation to Ignore the American Value of Caring for our elderly and making the way easier for the next generation. They have not Only Sucked the Marrow out of Our Country ..they have Poisoned the what scrapes they’ve left behind. Granted Not All Boomers Sold their Souls to make a buck,but enough did to Label them the WORST GENERATION!!!These guys started their Drug crazed Ransacking in the ‘80’s, and I’m supposed to feel sorry for them..Fuck ‘em!
By Hulk2008, October 14, 2008 at 6:32 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Marie Coco has totally nailed the truth in this article. I’ve worked 41 years as a computer programmer-analyst and various jobs before that - plus 4 years in the Vietnam-era military. I’ve contributed to the offerings of 401k and 403b etc. plans all along - as the companies I worked for not only cut away all defined-benefit penisons but even included social security estimating formulas in their 401k actuarial stuff. Big business planned all along since the early 70’s to shed themselves of any worker burdens - no pensions, no healthcare, no parachutes except for the Board and CEOs. The “glorious” Reagan era was the death knell for workers’ rights and retirements as depicted in those phony Chuck Schwab ads. If future retirees even get to see a beach it will be while they are picking up refuse, cleaning up after the likes of AIG management. My “savings” have dwindled down so far they might as well ahve been burned on that beach. My great-grandparents and grandparents all worked into their 80’s, my mother died early, and only my father was able to “retire” (a forced buy-out at GM) and regretted it every day.
Report thisOur/my only hope is to find some kind of work that our so-called “leaders” don’t ship offshore that is not too physically demanding, and which the younger generation finds too repugnant to do themselves. Recently I learned that teenagers don’t like selling snacks or taking tickets at theaters - Wow - here’s finally my chance to get into “show business” !!
By Expat, October 14, 2008 at 6:12 am Link to this comment
Big B…...
...“I am 45. My best bet might be to get a job at the ministry of information, where I can translate things into “newspeak” and hope that our Eurasian conquerers have a better health plan.”
I don’t know about Eurasian; but S.E. Asians definitely do. I know because I’m on one. Good Luck.
Report thisBy Marc Schlee, October 14, 2008 at 6:08 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The blame game is how criminals are caught and punished.
Look back.
Place blame
FREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY
Report thisBy hippy pam, October 14, 2008 at 5:52 am Link to this comment
I see “old bullsh*t” giving a speech[speechifying] this A.M. during GMA.HE ONLY HAS 20+/- DAYS LEFT….HE NEEDS TO “SHUT UP AND GO LAY DOWN”
Report thisBy Big B, October 14, 2008 at 5:51 am Link to this comment
Just think how well the stock market will do in a couple of years when the first huge wave of boomers hits retirement age. They will dump their 401K stocks on the market en mass, the the market will tumble and stagnate, stocks will drop in value, large corps like GM, Ford, and the airlines will abandon their pension funds in bankruptcy, and nearly everyone over 65 will be cleaning toilets at their local MacDonalds so they can afford the co-pays and deductables on their medicare plans.
I am 45. My best bet might be to get a job at the ministry of information, where I can translate things into “newspeak” and hope that our Eurasian conquerers have a better health plan.
Report thisBy Mark Baland, October 13, 2008 at 10:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Anyone else heard the tapes of corporate criminals pitching the HMO health care system to Nixon and about how much profit there would be and how he was all for it? If you elect corporate candidates (Republican and Democrat), you get increased corporate profits, and decreased benefits for workers. Tired of it? Vote for Ralph Nader. http://www.votenader.org
Report thisBy martin weiss, October 13, 2008 at 10:41 pm Link to this comment
vote GOP at your own risk.
Report thisAlso, consider abolishing the Federal Reserve system.
Why should our public money lose value over time to profit private banks?
NBC’s not talking about solutions, just extending the big con. It is literally illegal for corporations to benefit citizens over stockholders; illegal for corporations to be good citizens of a democracy. So the legal theory of corporate personhood is really about exploitation of people and resources, about subjugation of the nation and making citizens into slaves held hostage to their needs.
Thanks, Marie. Good work.
By kath cantarella, October 13, 2008 at 10:30 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
In Australia, our ‘old age’ (65+) pensioners are going to get a boost from Rudd’s economic stimulus package, which is the Aussie plan to stop the economic rot that has just started to manifest itself here in the last few weeks. Instead of giving it to bankers (although we’ve guaranteed our banks, which are regulated and strong btw) we are pumping our surplus into the economy via the pension. Pensioners will not put the money in the bank, they’ll spend it, therefore boosting the economy. That’s the theory anyway. Along with tax cuts and first-home owner grants, Rudd’s way seems a lot fairer than Paulsen’s.
Report thisLet’s see if it works.
By no, October 13, 2008 at 9:57 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This happened because it was decided that credit was better than saving.
So everything in the economy was distorted to force people to have no
other recourse other than invest in the stock market.
Incorrect calculation of inflation rate.
banks paying less than inflation rate so you are actually losing money
by depositing in bank.
Now the politician will say lets have a savings country. that
Report thisour saving rate is not good compare to Asia.
They would be just lying unless they change they way
the money supply works. It took 40 years to get to today.
I can guarantee no politician will advocate going back
to pre Nixon monetary policy.