From money.cnn.com
U.S. pension agency may go bust
Solvency of fund that insures traditional pensions is 'at risk,' director tells lawmakers.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/07/news/economy/pension.reut/index.htm
My neighbor pointed this out to me the other day.
Apparently, BushCo changed the rules a bit so companies didn't have to pay as much into their personal pension funds (or they could borrow from it, or monkey with the numbers). So now when they go belly up, more of those companies have to take from this insurance fund.
This article is part of an overall plan, with multiple pieces.
- Bankrupt this fund so the government doesn't have to pay into it.
- Push people into privatized Social Security. Which is nothing else than a gift to financial services firms. Think about it, paying into SS costs us nothing now. But we would have to pay fees to a firm to manage our money. Privatizing SS is so full of problems. If your money goes into the Stock Market, and the market starts to tank, you can't get your money out unless your 65 (or 67 or 70, whatever age they make it).
- The end goal is to bankrupt Social Security, so that the government doesn't have to bother with it anymore. More of the 'smaller goverment' argument.
But to be sure, this solvency issue goes back to BushCo. It's not exciting enough for the nets to look into it (In fact I'm bored already) but it is part of a larger policy.
First Post! Be Gentle!
Don