American Pension Funds Have Lost $2 Trillion

[DNP]

So how long until we’re all talking about a federal bailout for pension plans?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top congressional budget analyst says pension plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months.

Peter Orszag told a House panel on Tuesday that the losses are likely to force many workers to hold off on major purchases and delay their retirements.

The panel was investigating how the housing, credit and financial troubles battering the economy have affected retirement savings...

More than half the people surveyed in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll said they worry that they will have to work longer because the value of their retirement savings has declined.

What’s sad is that many Democrats are going to use this bailout fiasco as fodder for their opposition to the privatization of things like Social Security and health care (health savings accounts, for instance). It’ll likely be an effective tactic given just how little most Americans understand about what happened to our credit markets.

It’s worth noting that the credit collapse that’s causing all the problems right now didn’t happen because of free trading in the market. It happened because 51% of our nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market was tied up with two government-sponsored companies (Fannie and Freddie), and many of the loans that made up that $12 trillion market were given to people who couldn’t afford them under mandates from the government.

Put simply: The market collapsed because of government interference. If the government had stayed out, we wouldn’t have had this collapse.

But the Democrats aren’t likely to mention that fact when using the collapse to make their points against privatizing certain government programs.

 

[Gerry]

Even though my wife and I work at two seperate hospitals, both of our 401k and 403b are managed by AIG.

Yes, it would have been horrific for them to go under.

But this is appropriate?

The Federal Government (us) spent $85 billion to bail AIG out of their financial mess. In return, the Federal Government (us) gets an 80% share in AIG.

Within days, AIG execs went on a $440,000.00 spending spree/celebration at a fancy resort in California. Rooms, peticures, facials, massages, a $23,000.00 bar tab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JRJVlg6X7s

To make matters smell even more like rotten fish, the CEO was fired but was REHIRED! after the bailout was announced.

Incompetence that runs from the top to the bottom of this current administration.

Paulson, a person appointed not elected, is in charge of our money.

$700 billion "at a time" is the fine print of his plan. This amount could ultimately reach $11 trillion. Read his plan.

Clinton may have gotten a blow job in the White House but Bush has given to each on of us up the *** and we didn't even know it.

I obviously get fed up over many things but this probably pisses me off more than anything that has come to my attention recently.

Not only did they lose our money in our funds due to their piss-poor investments and buying high risk loan notes, now they are taking the tax dollars that we paid to bail their asses out and this is how they celebrate.

This is how we get paid back.


These dickheads just gave every one of us the finger and they want to try to pull this off by saying they did this to keep their employees from jumping ship.

Jumping ship? Where in the hell were they going. Every one is going under!

What a load of bullshit.

It literally sickens me to the core.

It is not the democrats using this for fodder. It is 8 years of pure incompetence. It is 8 years of pandering to special interest.

Wake up America! Admit who did this to you and quite be so blinded by party politics.

 

[katherine]

The pensions system is another ponzi...