But... what about your friends... your relatives... even
your kids?
(*SHRUG*)
Hey... I often throw out "You can lead a horse to
water, but you can't make him drink." It's true! I can block and comment
on Facebook and rant and rave to any and all who will listen until I'm moments
from a stroke... but in the final analysis I can't FORCE any of you people to utilize
the IQ that God gave you.
(*ANOTHER SHRUG*)
Anyway...
(*EXHALING*)
From a site called "Sovereign Man" recommended
by a friend of mine - who is a physician (for what that's worth).
Interesting article...
* * *
In 1875, right around the time the United States overtook
the UK as the largest economy in the world, the American Express Company
established the very first private pension plan in the United States.
American Express had a simple goal: attract the best and
brightest employees by giving them retirement security. At the time, this was a
revolutionary idea. The concept of “retirement” was practically Martian.
Back then, most people worked until they were no longer
medically fit to do so. To voluntarily stop working and live out your golden
years on perpetual vacation was a complete fantasy.
But a century after American Express, thanks in large
part to rising prosperity in the 20th century, retirement had become the norm.
Private companies’ pension plans covered over 40% of the
American workforce and millions of Americans were receiving Social Security by
the 1970s.
Then in 1974 the government passed the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act, establishing Individual Retirement Accounts
(IRAs) to help people save for retirement in a tax advantageous way.
Fast-forwarding to 2015, we can see that none of this
turned out quite like they’d expected.
The state of retirement in America is now pretty abysmal.
First and foremost, Social Security is desperately,
woefully unfunded.
Again, this is not Simon Black’s conjecture.
* SIMON BLACK IS THE AUTHOR AND OWNER OF THE
"SOVEREIGN MAN" SITE.
The Treasury Secretary and the Labor Secretary both sign
an annual report stating that Social Security is close to “trust fund depletion.”
In fact one of Social Security’s major trust funds is literally days away from
running out of money.
Federal retirement trust funds across the board, like the
Railroad Retirement Fund, are also nearly exhausted.
* SO FAR... BLACK SEEMS TO BE LAYING OUT THE FACTS AS I
KNOW THEM TO BE...
(*SHRUG*)
Meanwhile, private companies have followed the
government’s example, with many private pension funds similarly approaching
insolvency. You see this frequently in the news as the cost of their pension
funds push airlines and manufacturers into bankruptcy. They simply cannot pay
their retirees.
(*NODDING AS I SHRUG IN REGRETFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT*)
Not to worry, the federal government has an agency called
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to bail out guarantee insolvent
private pensions. It’s like the FDIC for private pension funds.
There’s just one problem.
(*DRUM ROLL*)
The PBGC itself needs a bailout.
PBGC’s latest report shows a net financial position of
NEGATIVE $62 billion, which is how much more they have in liabilities than
assets. There’s another word for that: insolvent. (So there goes that idea...)
Last, there are individual retirement plans, like IRAs
and 401(k)s. Unfortunately, most Americans’ individual retirement plans are
woefully underfunded. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the
median IRA balance in the U.S. was just $32,179 at the end of 2013.
(And the median amount saved by baby boomers amounts to
just 13% of what their projected retirement needs are.)
But not to worry, once again the federal government is to
the rescue. Last week the Obama administration officially rolled out its MyRA
program.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
MyRA is a "special" form of IRA that "helps"
Americans save for retirement by making it easy for you to...
(*ANOTHER DRUM ROLL*)
...loan your money to the federal government.
* THAT'S RIGHT; THE INSOLVANT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SET TO LEAVE US WITH AN "OFFICIAL" (WOEFULLY
UNDSTATED IN OTHE WORDS) NATIONAL DEBT OF $20 TRILLION (PLUS) BY THE TIME OBAMA
LEAVES OFFICE COME JANUARY 2017.
* FOLKS...
* SHEEPLE... IDIOTS... PAWNS... RUBES...
(*SIGH*)
* IS ANY OF THIS MANAGING TO REGISTER WITH ANY OF
YOU...???
Like a retirement account, the idea is to save a little
bit every month or every year to be set-aside in a tax-advantageous way for
retirement. The big catch here is that for MyRA accounts, there’s only one
investment: U.S. government bonds. At present, U.S. government bonds fail to
pay interest rates that meet the government’s officially published rate of
inflation.
* AND THE GOVERNMENT'S OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED RATE OF
INFLATION - AS WE ALL KNOW - IS BULL$HIT. (THE ONLY BRIGHT SPOT IS LOW FUEL
PRICES!)
So with these MyRA accounts, when adjusted for inflation,
you’re guaranteed to lose money.
(*SARCASTIC STANDING OVATION*)
The Obama administration, of course, entirely dismisses
this criticism, saying that these MyRA accounts are for “people who aren’t
saving and who have a fear of losing their principal.”
It’s pretty appalling when you think about it.
* MOST... DON'T... THINK...
* THE AVERAGE AMERICAN IS A MORON...
(*ANOTHER SHRUG*)
Private pensions are nearing insolvency, and the
government’s guarantee agency is insolvent.
Public pensions and retirement funds are also nearing
insolvency. And individual retirement funds are completely undercapitalized.
This will become an epic retirement funding crisis...
* YA THINK...?!?!
Yet the government ‘solution’ is to encourage Americans
who are at risk of losing their retirement to loan their money to the greatest
debtor that has ever existed in the history of the world at interest rates that
don’t even keep pace with inflation.
* WHAT A PLAN!
(*MORE SARCASTIC APPLAUSE*)
The government claims that MyRAs are "guaranteed."
* YA MEAN... LIKE VICTORY IN IRAQ? OR AFGHANISTAN? OR...
AGAINST ISIS?
(*SNORT*)
But the only thing guaranteed is that you’ll lose money...
whether through inflation... default... or confiscation.
* YEP!
The lesson here is clear: don’t rely on the government
for your retirement. YOU are a far more reliable manager of your own money.
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