Ellen Schultz: "Retirement Heist"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-10-06/ellen-schultz-retirement-heist
Funding for some of the nation’s largest private pension plans sank in September to their lowest levels since World War II. This news comes as many companies are already limiting lump sum payouts and freezing benefits to their retirees. Pensions were once considered a cornerstone of retirement, and in many cases, untouchable. But over the past two decades, companies large and small have cut employee pensions and slashed retiree health benefits -- all the while turning huge profits on those plans. Guest host, Laura Knoy, talks with investigative reporter, Ellen Schultz, about the hidden role companies play in the retirement crisis.
Guests
Ellen Schultz
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal
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Judge Grady's Verdict: Investing your captive retirement savings in bamboozlements pawns your life to an immoral and unsustainable financial Ponzi Scheme. (And I ain't talkin' 'bout Social Security.) So they pull you through life with a picture of a carrot. All value originates in labor, none in magic tricks. (Soon the stock market will break that mystical ten-thousand barrier, on its way down.)
Is it true that in the 1980s, because of changes made during the Reagan administration, that a German firm bought A&P for the purpose of raiding a very sizable pension fund?
Your guest stated that companies/lawyers figured out ways to use the pension funds to benefit the companies. I suggest a truer perspective is the CEO's and other executives figured out ways to use the pension funds to positively impact the companies' apparent bottom-lines, resutling in payment of bonuses to those same CEO's and executives. The sleight of hand was not to benefit the company, it was to benefit the executive.
The guest is totally missing the main point. The way of funding the pensions seems to be unsustainable. All you have to do it look at the US Postal pension problem. The Government required the USPS to pre-fund the pensions to make sure there was no problems with the upcoming huge number of retirees.
Now, USPS isn't competing very well with FedEX and UPS. The Postmaster general stated on this very show, that they want to lower the pre-funding levels.
If you really want "no risk" pensions. The only way to do that is to OWN it so no one can take it from you (except you of course). George Bush wanted to augment Social Security so people can add to their savings. It was totally rejected by the left.
The truth is that there really is no such thing as "totally risk free" when we're trying to plan for the future. Look what has happened to the Government Bonds from Europe! We all just have to get better at financial management. Seriously. If we don't protect ourselves, we really have no one else to blame.
-R
I was wondering if your guest can shed some light on the frozen pensions. I am an airline employee and in the wake of the recent bankruptcies, a couple of airlines have dumped their pension programs all together, but some others including my employer froze the pension programs. How does the employer responsibility plays in this case? And does the PBGC still come in and take over at some point?
Thanks
I am a victum of the LTV Steal (not misspelled) company that was in Cleveland, Ohio. They filed Chapter 7 in 2001. They stole our lives, health and more.
The PBGC pays you based on age not on what you may have been entitled to.
I was lucky too get employment at a state college because of my transferable work skills. Now my illustrious Ohio governer wants to attack another pension that I'm trying to earn.
Power too the demonstrators who are engaging in civil disobedience at "Greed$tock" on Wall Street. It's time too share in the fruits of our labor!
Good Morning...I listen to Ms. Elaine with fascination. i worked for Westren Geopyhsical Co. for over ten years with full vestment in the profit sharing program..Litton Industries came in...and i recieved a mere 4k$ from a plan that had it valued at over 80k$.
Then went to work for Bouchard Transportation for over seven years...had the paperwork showing 100% vestement...over 80k$ once again. yet when i tried to cash out...i recieved a mere 38oo$
Contacted the federal government...and while they said thier was a good case...I would need to hire an attorney. Is there anything to do about all this...at this late date?
Any hope?
Thankyou for your intrest...and your research...I truly feel...someone...out there spots the boot on the workers neck..
Thankyou, so much..
Director Michael Moore talked about the "disappearing pensions" in his movie SiCKO. He nailed it. Again. As usual. So, now why do we let these multi-billion dollar corporations get away with this behavior? Justice in America!!!
Thank you for covering this important topic.
For those listeners who have a question about their pension or 401(k) plan, free legal assistance is available from regional pension counseling projects, which are funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging. Visit http://www.pensionrights.org/counseling-projects to see if you are covered by one of the counseling projects.
The projects offer legal counseling, not financial planning advice. They can answer questions about your plan, help you obtain documents that you are entitled to, help you find and claim retirement benefits, and help you exercise your rights when it comes to retirement plans.
If you don't fall into a counseling project's jurisdiction, call the Pension Rights Center at 202-296-3776 for assistance or send the Center an e-mail via its website, www.pensionrights.org.
All value originates in land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. So long as a pension fund is on the books of a company and subject to the whims of leadership, this is unsustainable. Secondly, saying you'll be paid a certain amount has always seemed bogus - pension funds should be invested, and are at the whim of those investments.
Secondly, most companies don't survive. Not because they go under, but because they're assimilated into mega-suites. This is the way of the world today. We live in a different era, with different expectations. You can't depend on a company for your well-being. Labor's worth has gone down as information has expanded - new-thinking has much bigger benefits. That's basically what a more developed society says - and those who don't come through with new ideas won't see profits when the global baseline is higher.
Wow. Unbelievable. See booktv for more:
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/12833/Retirement+Heist+How+Companies+Plunder...
I would like to thank the Pension Rights Center and Ellen Schultz for helping me get back my Pension. It took me five years to find help but I got my Pension back. Ellen done a great story in the Wall Street Journal.
Thanks Very Much:
Harold Kenneth Phillips