Ladies, gentlemen, and all others reading this piece of rant, please, be forewarned. Sometimes you find out that you really were happier not knowing the truth. The truth about pensions, government or otherwise, is about to be revealed to you, if, you have the courage to learn the truth about how things really work.
I will apologize upfront, as always is my moniker, for any digressing or ranting which I shall strive to maintain to the bare minimum. And I must say that in order to truly understand this article, you will have to read some of my other articles, or immerse yourself into a world of google searches and teach yourself about how government, business (big and small), and budgeting and accounting works. And often doesn’t work. In that spirit, I have decided to write seperate articles, addressing each issue seperately.
Now, before I lay down my wisdom, or lack thereof, on the line, I’d like to place my credentials on the table so that you, the educated reader that you are, can decide upon it’s worth. First, I am a retired military man drawing a Federal pension for which I risked my life and the well being of my family. Second, I am a state government worker, trying to secure a second retirement. Third, I managed several multi-million dollar government budgets and I was accountable, answerable, but could find no sense in the way government accounted for our dollars. Hard earned, blood, sweat toil, dollars. That my kids will never see. Nor will yours. See why we are voted the bankruptcy lawyer san diego as the charges and commission of hiring will be under the budget of the person. Proper pension will be provided to the person for the respective case.
What seems hidden by the media in this matter is the truth of the other side of the story. No news network seems to be willing to address any fact other than to stir the masses on this issue. So I issue this challenge: any news media agency, please publish an article on your pension plans for your employees. I’ll publish mine. I scampered around to interview some people from different walks of life and found this.
Bank of Nashville employees apparently enjoy a pension plan, a 401k match program and have sufferred pay raises of only 3% for a few years. Manheim Nashville Auto Auction employees enjoy roughly the same benefit as do employees of Bridgestone North America. Wal-Mart employees were long offered profit sharing and many small businesses offer their employees pension options as well. Who are these companies? All the smart ones who want to obtain wealth. Cash. Moola. Gold. See, Uncle Sam, a.k.a. uncle sugar, actually does try to look out for us. In so doing, the tax laws are written so that any business that wants to establish a pension, or 401k, etc, must make it available to all employees. So when the doctor, dentist, lawyer, alarm company, plumber, etc., wants to stash some cash in stocks and 401k plans, they must share the wealth. They must make it available to all employees.
Now, let me try my best to explain briefly how these plans work, and, how your government makes them fail.
First, there are several pension plans, but let’s talk about the two most prevelant. Contributory, where employees put in a portion, and non-contributory, where employees don’t contribute any money. Most governments and companies originally attracted employees by offering a contributory pension plan. Now, under this plan, an employee automatically has a small portion of their wages taken to put into this pension fund. But before these funds are deducted from the paycheck, taxes (aka Social Security) are deducted. By switching to a non-contributory pension plan, employers are able to contribute the same amount of money to the pension fund, while avoiding having to pay the federal government any money on those funds in social security taxes. How? Because these are now classified as funds that are defferred. So the state, or business, robs the fed, and us, of taxes. But it saves the local government, and you, money. Why did we allow this? My only guess is that the government was trying to teach us to save for retirement and not rely on social security. Now, while this business of moving money around was going on, local governments began the idea of “borrowing” against the pension funds or avoiding making payments to the pension fund. Even when the approved budget allocated funds to the pension fund.
Well, the federal government began doing it. They borrowed from social security money to pay the bills. Why? Maybe it was to fund a school or a bridge or anything else they thought might get them through the next election. Yeah, we’ll pay our obligations to our employees and our people (you) next year. That’s right. The federal government took your social security money and went on a shopping spree. Many shopping sprees. And then the next. And so on. So, would you work for a company like that? Didn’t think so. Now we have cities and states, run by the people that the people elected, trying to lay blame upon the servants of the people for the budgets that now have come due. So here’s how it works, or rather, how it all goes to crud. Your government decides to buy a bridge, a road, a whatever, and decides NOT to pay any money into the fund that they are contractually bound to. Just like they robbed social security and handed out “I OWE YOU’S”. Yeah, the same thing that happened to many peoples retirement fund was an act of plagiarism. State and local government acted just like the federal government. Rape the fund, worry about it later. When I’m no longer in office and enjoying my lavish retirement check. Then comes the day of reckoning. For all of us. Meanwhile, they still hide money in the budget to fund their pet projects. I’ll explain that one in another article.
Look for “How government budgets work” and “don’t work”. Now what do I cost you? Nothing, nada
zilch. My job brings funds into the state coffers that totally blows away what I ever get paid. So do the judges, court clerks, police writing speeding tickets, and on and on. Yet they present a budget that shows only what they pay us, not what we bring in, in terms of dollars. My pension will never cost you a dime………ever.
