are extremely critical to block the lame duck agenda.

This is the only way to save our country.
No more footsie playing with these commie goons.

Have been the time bomb ticking under a lot of the status quo. Several states have seen theirs get questioned. I’m not shocked that union sponsored plans are likely to be under the gun soon.

Will be blaming Obama on and on and on??????

These dinosaur defined benefit plans started going under water about 20 years ago. I had no idea the labyrinth of agreements propping them up was as byzantine as it is. This is the American version of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand that exposed the underlying secret security agreements that entwined Europe (and the world), and which brought about World War One.

would-be “criminal” lack of disclosure. The House bill that is the equivalent of Senator Casey’s pension bailout bill has more than 50 co-sponsors, including these nine Republicans:

Virginia Brown-Waite [R-FL5]
Jo Ann Emerson [R-MO8]
Steven LaTourette [R-OH14]
John Linder [R-GA7]
Thaddeus McCotter [R-MI11]
Tim Murphy [R-PA18]
Peter Roskam [R-IL6]
Aaron Schock [R-IL18]
Patrick Tiberi [R-OH12]

Mike Pence was a co-sponsor at one point, but officially withdrew his sponsorship. I suggest that Michigan’s otherwise conservative Rep. Thaddeus McCotter do the same.

…needs to be to offer a tax-free rollout of 70 cents on the dollar for every dime individuals have in an underfunded pension fund. The offer should apply on an general basis regardless of age or seniority.You want out, you get out, at 70 cents tax free. Period.

Who could oppose it? What’s their argument? “You’ll destroy the pension fund.” And? If it’s unsustainable, so be it. Time to break it up. And if the union was raiding that fund to make donations to politicians, do they really expect public sympathy and money?

The Dem’s union problems will go nuclear as soon as some of the GOP elected start to clarify the tri-class system the Obamacrats have been attempting to create –

The Priviledged (the unions, pols, greens, attorneys whose existance is politically constructed to be outside market forces),

The Peasants (private sector workers),

The Collectors (who run around and collect money from the Peasants and pass it on to the Privileged to outside of market forces).

This stuff isn’t rocket science, but it does require leadership to clarify this situation and then to keep banging that drum, then bang it some more. The only saving grace here for the Obamacrats is the GOP Senate RINO LOSERship is totally inept in being able to articulate and follow thru on a clear message on anything conservative. While the GOP may end up controlling the Senate, the LOSERship is likely to persist in their losership roles, even though there may be a significant influx of new conservative legislators.

– and the media will let them get away with it.

I would like to think this is “chickens coming home to roost”… its not… because desperate people will do anything to bring home security and peace of mind, but lack wisdom by allowing desperation govern their actions or choices.

The lame duck session will most likely under the “too big to fail” language will get legislation to pass that will further entrench the Treasury with nationalized debt sale that made taxpayers the guarantors of debt that will never be paid back but will expand the balance sheet at a time that it needs to be contracting. I fear the ripple this may have in the current currency war.

which is saying something.
Really, I can’t handle all the good[ ?] news that’s coming in faster & faster.
If the republicans pick up even one seat it will be all their fault. We are running out of bailouts, though the promise of more power to The O and his gangsters, and more pain to millions of Normal People is irresistible.

Sacre bleu

PARIS (Reuters) – Striking public sector workers disrupted travel across France on Tuesday and sporadic violence flared at protest marches as opponents of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform made a last-ditch attempt to stop it.

Refinery workers, airport staff, train drivers, teachers, postal workers and guards who supply cash machines went on strike and students set off rowdy protests in a day of action against plans to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.

At least a million protesters demonstrated in cities across France in the biggest and most persistent challenge to economic reforms anywhere in Europe, where governments are struggling to curb budget deficits and reduce debt mountains.

That is merely because Sarkozy wants to reform pensions.
Can you imagine what would happen if those people were in danger of losing their pensions….?
How long before that happens in California ?
They have $500 billion in unfunded liabilities for state workers.
Where are they going to get the money ?

As always you have done an awesome job. Now, folks let’s start asking those politicians running for office what they propose to do about this? Let’s start with the Dems. Also, anyone represented by the Repubs mentioned in the comments above start calling and asking them what they are thinking?

I think we could be in for a very bumpy ride.

I researched the issues around S 3157 and posted related comments on the Anchorage Daily News and have been blocked. Must have been a raw nerve.

Hmmm. Could this be the underlying reason why Obama started calling for another massive stimulus to be devoted exclusively to “infrastructure”? It seemed odd since, at the very same time, he was telling us that the first stimulus was so successful that it ended the recession (apparently by sheer force of its transcendant awesomeness) in June 2009 just threee and a half months after it was signed and before hardly any of the money had been spent. But I have to admit, “Son of Stimulus” does sound a lot easier to sell than “stealing your savings to pay off my union supporters.”

the race? FOX, Rasmussen, Real Clear Politics all show the Dems pulling ahead or catching up in races across the country. Will SOMEONE tell me what is happening? Things have never been scarier in this country, the Dems are clearly culpable, and yet things are looking UP for them?

Are your gettin’ it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI6Ms0b4q-4

and engage in an evening of some SERIOUS, Grade-A Shadenfruede LOL

The rules for Government accounting is different from the regulation of GAAP accounting and if the truth be known, these pension plans are considerable debts/liability to our States, Cities and communities and are in serious trouble. To the majority of people it is unknown what the debt for these pensions actually are as it isn’t clearly reported in the financials It is one of those dirty little secrets that no one wants to discuss in hopes that it just goes away.

It isn’t just a “Democratic/Union” problem. It is a can of worms that no one has wanted to deal with. It is an American Dream of Dreams about to crash.

You just wouldnt necessarily like the cost.

Probably you’re thinking I am referrening to assumption by the federal government of the liabilities.

I am not.

It is as simple as this: A $100 billion plan, with interest rates at 2.5% (which is where the 10-yr is now trading) will generate $2.5 million annually to service its actuarial needs.

If no one is entering the plan, a certain amount of the corpus can be withdrawn each year to cover the cash needs of paying retirees.

However, most state plans have assumed plan returns upwards of 6% and several assume 8%.

This is one of the toxic effects of keeping rates low. It empoverishes savers. What middle class person who saved oh-so-carefully for retirement can live comfortably on 2.5% interest, or even worse on the rates being paid on short term deposits?

The lower assumed interest rates, the higher the actuarial needs of a union pension plan, or a retiree investment portfolio.

A piece on Bloomberg today refers to the phenomenon:

==================================================

One of those subsidies is the $350 billion that savers forgo each year because the Fed keeps interest rates near zero, according to Petzel’s calculations. While banks can borrow at close to zero from the Fed, they lend to consumers and corporations at almost 5 percent, or to the Treasury at 2.5 percent, and they get to keep the difference.

“The huge wealth transfer from fixed-income pensioners to the banks has helped the banks repay TARP,” Petzel said.

The link is here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-20/bailout-of-wall-street-returns-8-2-profit-to-taxpayers-beating-treasuries.html
==========================================

In sum, by exploding the Fed’s balance sheet, by keeping long and short term rates low, we are actively impoverishing union pension funds and other saver/investors.

The cost of repairing that damage may ultimately prove far more than the bailout of a few multiemployer pension plans.

this continued Fraud and Abuse of Taxpayers and Savers alike?

If Democrats want to keep this quiet till after the elections, shouldn’t our Conservative candidates be exposing both games (the critical underfunding of multi-employer pension plans and the general screwing of the dollar’s value by keeping interest rates artificially low and issuing mountains of new debt per microsecond)?

Just saying…will get the blame for anything going wrong after Nov 2nd anyway…might as well open the wound and begin surgery right away…

An ex-governor of Georgia wanting us to forget his horrible tenure as governor, now wants the accused not to be properly represented by counsel. Over the past years law enforcement in bigger cities around America where professional sports teams are located have to investigate accusations against the players almost on a weekly basis. It often goes this way. Young white women go to bars and clubs hoping to hook up with a famous and rich professional basketball, baseball or football player. They flirt with the pro player (who oftentimes is African American) and go with the athlete back to his hotel room or home. The young women spends the night with the athlete and then tells a close friend and within a day or two the close friend tells someone else and either the young woman’s family finds out or she is afraid they will. She is very concerned that her family will not be sympathetic to her (and that they may harbor some prejudice?) so she cooks up the story that she was raped by the athlete. The Democrat former Gov. wants to deny the athlete or defedant to have his attorney question the accuser or depose her. Is this equal justice for all? So the athlete is treated “guilty before proven innocent.:” This scenario happens often in large cities across the U.S., including Atlanta, Georgia. Congratulations ex-governor, we hope you stay an ex.

“When the United States finally passed a social security law in 1935 …, the average life expectancy in America was only 61.7 years. Of course, people who did reach 65 had a considerable number of years to live and to enjoy SOCIAL SECURITY benefits …” (Quote from http://www.medrounds.org/encyclopedia-of-aging/2006/01/retirement-age-history-of.html)
From the “Life Expectancy by Age, 1850–2004″ chart data (at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html) it can be calculated that the average number of years lived over the age of 65 has increased from about 13 to 18 between 1939-41 and 2004. If this process continues, soon there will be more money going out than coming in the pension funds! Or, benefits are going to be continuously reduced to allow for the increase in the number of recipients!

The author wrote:

America is careening toward bankruptcy. While blame can initially be laid at the feet of both parties,..

No, it cannot be laid at the feet of both parties.

America is going bankrupt explicitly and specifically because it is attempting to finance the irrational, Utopian dreams of morally and intellectually deficient social progressives.

Secondary blame may be assigned to the Congresspeople, federal and state executives, and judges who have supported this irresponsible dream along the way. Some percentage considerably smaller than 50% of these have been Republicans. A percentage considerably greater than 50% have been Democrats, so if one is assigning blame solely based on who voted which way, the blame lays largely on the Democratic majority, and secondarily on those Republicans who were stupid, greedy, or cowardly enough to cooperate with them.

But the real blame rests on the progressive social engineers who envisioned and then executed the policy to attempt to achieve the Utopian dream, that dream of heaven envisioned by lazy, arrogant, morally illiterate fools, to which the wise properly assign the name “Hell.”

It’s not a bipartisan destruction. It’s a partisan one with some bipartisan cooperation.

A major role in the collapse of USSR was the fact that its unions controlled fully its economy’s production. Even if the situations are not entirely comparable, have the US unions learned anything from that event?