Day of Reckoning for American Pensions Is Fast Approaching

by | Jul 20, 2015 | Aftermath, Commodities | 92 comments

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    For decades, local and state governments in the United States have made promises to their employees that they cannot keep. They guaranteed a certain level of income to retirees at a time when America was its most prosperous, and when most people didn’t live as long as they do now. Those lucrative pensions they promised are starting to catch up to them in a big way.

    Earlier this week, Moody’s cut Chicago’s credit rating to “junk,” largely due to their $20 billion pension shortfall, and they put the City of Houston on notice. Many of the major pension funds use the stock market to bolster their savings, but despite record profits on Wall Street, it doesn’t seem like any of them reached their revenue goals. California’s Public Employees Retirement System only reached a third of the annual revenue they projected, and the state’s teacher fund failed to reach their goal. Overall, Moody’s found that the 25 largest public pension funds in the US have a $2 trillion budget shortfall.

    That means that many state and local governments may face credit rating cuts in the near future, which will leave them owing even more money. Chicago for example, is now paying an exorbitant 8% yield on their bonds, which amounts to almost twice as much as a homeowner would pay for a 30 year mortgage. If other cities have to deal with credit rating downgrades (which they soon will), paying off their liabilities will quickly turn into a Sisyphean task. Widespread municipal bankruptcies will soon become a common feature in America’s financial landscape.

    Take a look at how heavy America’s debt burden has become.

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      92 Comments

      1. The Grand Canyon

        Meh. It’s not really worth seeing. Just a big gorge in the Earth. Hiking is nothing special. Slot canyons are infinitely more interesting.

        • But it is pretty 🙂

          • There is always much talk of investing in Precious Metals before the SHTF, be very careful where you get your PM’s. PM dealers are very unstable, and as we often hear “If your not holding it, you don’t own it” I hope none of our people here on SHTF have any money invested with, Bullion Direct. Trekker Out.

            • Yep PM ETF’s are for suckers.

        • Acid- Grand Canyon, beautiful place, go hike down there and camp. After all, the entire canyon was all made in just 6 days according to the Religious folks. Bwhahahajaja!!!

          • Says who woulda? I haven’t read that in any ‘books’. I have read that it did take quite a number of millions of years for the Colorado Plateau to rise 5000 feet or so. I also wonder just how many millions of years it took for the inland oceans to lay down all those layers of sandstone. Do you know?

      2. Sad thing is, whether it’s State or Federal workers and you mention this stuff to them they go into complete denial mode. They keep bringing up “I’m Union and I have a contract that says otherwise”, but the problem is. Contracts get broken all the time, Unionized or not. There is no help for these people in the process of awakening. Some things like this is to just keep it quiet to ones self while these people think they are going to have a lucrative retirement. They will figure it one day soon enough that they have been had.

        • You are exactly right. They act like the people in Greece who just voted to NOT have any ‘austerity’ even if it meant the EU wouldn’t give them anymore money—which would have meant a complete austerity as there would be NO money to pay them their pensions!
          I live in Illinois….and just like what the Governor of Puerto Rico said, “it’s not a political problem(even though the Illinois democrats refuse to try to fix the pension mess they created), it’s a mathematical problem”. In other words, it is mathematically impossible to pay out all of the promised benefits.

          • Brian, Its the politicians that spent the money that was suppose to go to the pensions. Here in FL the Firefighters in Tampa, many will retire as millionaires, due to an amazing financial guru pension advisor. I left IL in part of the massive political corruption. In IL one last time when I was up there, I saw a heavy envelope of cash get handed right to a judge in the courtroom by an Atty for his client. You should have heard the loud thump as it hit the judges podium desk. Which the Judge quickly set aside nezt to him.. How do I know it was cash? I saw the client hand the envelope to the Atty just 10 mins before his hearing for a 3 rd DUI that faced jail time. I believe it to be about $5K. Thats how IL operates.

        • Of course they go into denial mode:

          They’re the ones that voted themselves these benefits.

          I’m annoyed whenever I hear talk about the government keeping its promises.

          No. Some people through the democratic process promised themselves that they would receive money, money to be taken from younger workers.

          There’s no “the government promised us”. That’s BS.

        • My sister worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NH from right out of high school until she was 56 years old.

          One of the benefits promised was, if you retire at 55 or older and you have been with the company at least 25 years, you and your spouse get health insurance for life.

          Nine months before she turned 55, the company annouced, Oooops, we changed our minds, no health insurance for retirees. My sister even took it to court and the court sided with the company. No soup for you.

          • Angry,

            It’s the truth that a company or governmental body is only as good as their promises, today, neither can be trusted. Companies tell bald face lies to their employees on a daily basis, but reserve the right to feel ” offended” when a good employee tells them he or she has found a better offer, they usually get pissy when that happens, complaining that nobody ever wants to work anymore, employees are all disloyal, training a new employee is expensive, I’ve heard them all. What’s funny is they never look at themselves as being dishonest, they all want people who are smart and talented enough to perform their job at the highest level, but they expect them to turn stone stupid when they lie to them about the job, raises, benefits, etc. I wonder sometimes what level of efficiency could be reached if companies where on the level with their employees and rewarded them based on their merit instead of being a supervisors relative or sex partner, But I guess that question will never be answered.

      3. I’ve already been hearing rumors that the government will raid private pensions and 401K accounts to fund failing government and union run pensions.

        I look at what Obama did in 2008 when he stole GM from its stock holders, and gave it to the union hacks. There will be more of this!

        • I think it’s unlikely the US Gov will raid pensions for cash. They may take them over, for power/control reasons, because as the Fed has shown they can get as much cash as they want.
          More likely they will just print them out of any value.

          • “More likely they will just print them out of any value.”

            Exactly

            • The first mistake is allowing some place like “Moody’s” to decide credit ratings. We’ve been stuck in the “credit” mindset for so long, we don’t see the red herring. EASY CREDIT IS THE PROBLEM, right along with predatory lenders.

              Moody’s is owned and operated by the big banks. In other words, they are the same predatory lenders who are dominating world finances. The fox is watching the hen house.

          • Paranoid, they’ll keep the printing presses going until the house of cards finally falls. I doubt if I’ll ever see a dime of what I’ve paid into SS. I’ve been paying into it since I was 16 and I’m 58 now. Just think of the preps and even some property I could buy if I had that money [SIGH].

            • I had a cousin die at the young age of 59 this year. He, nor his family will ever see a dime from all his life’s earnings and work he paid into the SS program. Thats why you drawing as soon as you can at 62.5 yo.

              • WWTI, 1. I don’t expect to make it to 62 if/when SHTF finally hits and, 2. There may not even be a USA left before it’s all said and done.

                • I’m 57 and I’m planning on collecting at 62.

                  But, by then we’ll have ‘Means Testing’ and the government will tell me, I have too much money and I don’t need the SS money, instead it’s needed more by someone who sat on their ass their entire life.

        • Bernie Sanders gutted the audit the fed bill and voted to bomb Kosovo. However, he:

          -hates the 1%
          -hates investment banks
          -hates the NSA
          -wants to throw dirty fucking pig cops in jail
          -hates free trade
          -hates China
          -says he hates the FED
          -wants to stop the wars
          -wants to tax the 1%
          -says he wants to reduce taxes on the middle class
          -hates offshore tax havens
          -speaks plainly and doesn’t talk around the question
          -doesn’t think minorities need to be harassed and beaten and killed.

          Now youre going to tell me he’s a soooooo-shalllll–isssss? Oh, those wrascally socialists.

          WELL HOW MUCH OF OUR FUCKING WEALTH DO YOU STUPID SHEEPLE TOOL CUNTS WANT TO GIVE TO THE BANKS????? THE SHIRT OFF MY BACK????

          ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WITH THIS FUCKING 1% BANKER SHIT. DO YOU KNOW THAT FASCISM IS THE MERGER OF STATE AND CORPORATE POWERS…WHAT YOU ARE LIVING IN? WE SHOULD HAVE PUT THEM IN FUCKING JAIL LIKE ICELAND DID. MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF THEM.

          • Dude seriously? That wretch isn’t any different than any other sociopath/politician. Get your head out of your ass. They all lie.

            • You sure are new here. I am the most cynical person on this board. You aint gonna tell me anything.

              He’s better than most. Rand Paul is pretty decent but he pissed me off with the path to citizenship crap.

              • ‘You aint gonna tell me anything.’

                Must be nice to know everything and be unable to be told anything!!!! Sounds like yet another semi-educated, semi-schooled open mind living on the net. Perhaps a cop? Maybe someone on the govmint dole its whole life?

                Pathetic

                Wardoc

          • I hope you factually qualify that last Sander’s point- “by others of their own minority”.

          • Acid, damn good points and I have to agree.

          • Yeah that sounded like Obamas campaign speech too. The biggest wopper was Obama saying he was going to charge the big oil co’s a windfall profits tax they profited so heavy under during the scam GW Bush admin. After O was selected the first election that died to a whimper and never happened. Yep they all lie.

          • Stop feeding the beast. Get out of debt and off the fascist grid. Cut the cable TV, elect co and utilities, and stop being a dependent slave to them. It takes work and committment to get to that point. Start Today. Set some goals and work them daily. Talk is cheap. Get mad as hell, and stop taking it in the behind.

      4. It is a shame to see where this country is going…

        • Is certainly discouraging, will find the article and post link if can find it again but it was a pictoral article with pictures from the 20s and 30s vs today, made me wish i was living back then, people had class, even poor folks had class and were polite, today folks look like some kind of hooligan tribe from tazmania

          • Amen, Kula.
            Makes me wonder, where we will be in 10 years?
            Will nothing happen or will our world be turned upside down???
            Bless all here…

          • Why are you picking on Tasmania? Most progressives today remind me of Compton and Watts in So. Cal. At least here, in our part of the world, I still see Aunties correcting Keiki for jaywalking, and the Keiki don’t mouth off, they obey. Maybe we are still in the dark ages?

          • Kula,
            I started seeing the changes when the wife had to go to work to make ends meet and someone else was raising our kids and then they started protecting the minorities and criminals rights and it progressed down from there. I believe it was designed and that is the scummers that need to need removed!

        • Thank you for recognizing a generation that said the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning before class; that believed in our inaelable (sp) rights; that grew up knowing there were consequences to our misgivings. This place now, southern CALIFORNIA, there’s none of these. Hail Poncho Villa, lucky to get to order in English, luckier tobuy an unregrestered ….. I do wish I lived closer to you Eppe, because we would be friends.

          • Look up the Bellamy salute kiddies.

            • “one nation, INDIVISIBLE….” Know WHY that last word is in there ?

              To enforce the point (especially to Southerners that it was written for) that the Declaration of Independence was a one time deal, not to ever be repeated. You do NOT have the inalienable right to split off and form a govt of your choosing.

              So keep ‘pledging’. I don’t.

              • “You don’t have the inalienable right to split off and form a govt. of your choosing.” According to whom? The special interests that hijacked the fedgov BEFORE anyone even heard of Abe Lincoln? THEIR word doesn’t mean shit to me.

          • Nels, it would be a pleasure to be neighbors.
            I need more like minded people around me, hard to find…
            That you can trust…

      5. I am a member of a union. My post is not for us to piss on each other about being pro union,or non union. My point is that I’m smart enought to know that my pension will not exist when I retire. This is why we(us here on shtf) invest in precious metals,beans and “”brass”.

      6. My turn to vent about the government taxes on retirement. I retired in December 2014. I contributed to an employer sponsored 457. I also contributed to a supplemental retirement fund.

        The supplemental retirement fund is what really burns my ass. I contributed about $50,000 and the fund grew to $70,000.

        I cashed out when I retired. The GOVERNMENT took 30% in taxes!!!! The FEDS took $21,000 in taxes from this supplemental retirement!!!

        I only got a check for $49,000. LESS than what I put in.

        So not only did I have the risk of investing that money, but the FEDS took all the profit and some additional on top of that.

        So, when the SYSTEM says save for retirement, really they are saying, give me your retirement savings.

        This country is totally screwed.

        • John,that really sucks. Sorry to hear that,but thanks for sharing that.

        • JOHN- Now Obama wants to go after trust funds as well , it aint just for the rich .
          I set up a trust for my farm , now they are talkin about the same 30 to 40% tax on a trust.
          Now what ?
          Fu#k these aholes , burns my ass, sorry for the language.

        • What a low blow. I too am sorry to hear this.

        • SOOOOOO…what you are saying is you wish you’d saved the 50,000 @ home under the mattress and screw the gov???
          I hear ya.

        • What’s even worse, if Obama has his way, you won’t be able to own guns either.

          The WH is trying to take guns away from people collecting Social Security who have bad memories or can’t balancing their checkbook.

          ht tp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/20/obama-looks-to-ban-social-security-recipients-from-owning-guns/

          I’m sure in the WH minds, anyone that invested $50K and ended up with only $49K suffers from Finanicial Incompency.

          Sorry John, No guns for you.

      7. What a deal Lucille.

        The greed of most middle class American citizens will be their downfall, I suspect. I guess you could say their love of money, will be.

        Many of the crowd in their early fifties that I used to run with, can hardly throw a small party because they are too busy putting all their marbles into retirement and pension funds.

        The wife and I have many fair weather friends and when we save up and throw a barbecue, they are sure glad to show up when invited. Heck fire, we even spring for gag gifts and such.

        Do they ever throw cookouts and invite us, hell no. The very few that have in the past, serve friggin cheap hotdogs.
        Yea that is right the kind with more peckers and lips than anything else.

        We just keep widdleing down the crop of attendees.

        What is sad is the fact that nearly all them are sitting on huge stock portfolio’s, but can’t share anything without a piss and moan.

        Sure hate to be them in a few months. heckle heckle.

        • Same here , same shit , we serve up steak and such , they serve cheap beer and chips.
          Die with the money , i say, its only good today .

        • So iocu812, you are upset because you tend to squander money on gags gifts, which are not needed and they choose to save and eat hot dogs. I see no problem with living within your means and saving for retirement because who know how things will play out or when. Just make sure you also prep (stock your own insurance) for what will happen to each family at some point. Yeah, there are always a handful that bring nothing to the party ever or never reciprocate by holding their own party and those are the free-loaders that you quit because they are anchors that will drag you down with them. Everyone should be saving in one form or another for the future so they can take care of themselves and not look to everyone else for their basics survival.

      8. No retirement plan and no worries 🙂

        As i stated earlier , i will die with the boots ON .
        And am happy to do so.
        I will not worry about non existant investments , 401k plans or IRA accounts , you can have it all .
        I am gonna wing it !(maybe with a couple silver coins).

        These pensions were devised at a time of great prosperity and growth , the progressive (socialist)mindset has overtaken and assumes unlimited growth , yet chooses to choke business with regulation and legislation in the name of control .
        Capitalist growth and socialist control will not mix.

        Just look at our falling bridges and general dis-repair of infrastructure , it should be obvious.
        Wealth redistribution through government programs (socialism) will always fail . EI- see greece .

      9. not sure what is balancing this one legged stool. gold and silver flash crashed last night. China has still maintained a halt on trading of more than 20% of its stocks if I read the article correctly. dozens of countries so in debt its crazy to think they are still functioning. As obama would say, climate change is briging out the crazies. An old guy came in my aunts place of business a few months ago. asked for .75 for the bus. she gave it to him. well it became an every 2 week thing, coming in asking for money and everyone telling him no, move along. one evening all her staff had left at 5 and noone locked the door. she was busy in her office, looked up and there this guy was. she asked him nicely to leave twice before throwing his ass out with a pair of scissors in her hand. Her boss posted no gun signs on the doors. I told her she needed to get rid of that shit. Same neighborhood some thugs broke into an old lady’s home and beat raped and dumped her body in an abandoned hospital, and black thugs painted racist stuff on the black mayors car trying to make it look like whites did it.

        The world is getting ready to burn.

        • Npph, if any thugs had come to my place with shit like that in mind, they would’ve become “Michael Browns”.

      10. Nah, politically unacceptable for pensions to go down the tubes. The govt will print whatever is needed to keep them afloat….just like they are doing most social programs today.

        The real problem comes a bit farther down the road with massive inflation and total destruction of the currency for all.

        Got silver ? It’s on sale !

      11. I imagine the funds won’t be seized, just forced to convert into government bonds and such.

        • No, what they are already proposing in Congress is that they confiscate all your 401k accounts and issue government “backed” annuities in their place. Essentially the same IOU exchange that Clinton did with the Social Security trust fund. I forget how many trillion $$ are in 401k’s but I bet it would balance the budget for at least six months.

          Some little fascist female congressmonkey from southern KKKalifornia (natch) has been introducing such a bill since about 2004.

      12. I thought the mint froze sales of 1 ounce walking liberty coins for a few months. On pensions, the VA won’t touch non service connected disability pensions which are available to any veterans over age 65 to meet a fixed income threshhold of about 12 grand a year. They are obtainable at an earlier age with disability. These pensions have been paid since civil war times, They are minimal, just enough to scrape by. Besides meager cost of living adjustments that social security recipients receive these pensions haven’t been raised since 1978. A lot of veterans survive on them.

      13. As I understand it, laws were passed last November or whenever allowing the financial powers that be (banks, etc.) to use (confiscate!) all our savings accounts as well as all 401k’s and pensions in order to indemnify themselves for all the trillions of derivatives debt.

        Convert your 401k’s and pensions into silver coinage NOW while you still can.

        The Shemitah is coming.

        Better to get a minimum of 6-months of non-perishable food and water and other preps because you can’t eat silver!

        But if you want to PROTECT those funds, convert them to silver coinage otherwise.

        Read Jonathan Cahn’s book, “The Shemitah”.

        – the Lone Ranger

      14. I don’t know what the future holds but I feel it’s going to be rough. All I can do is what I can to protect my family. I have similar minded friends and we all agree that society is collapsing into a pile of socialist crap.
        I had my two oldest children read a diary from Weimar republic Germany and both said.. “That’s what’s happening now”, what do we do?
        I responded “whatever we have to do to survive as a family.
        Good luck, God Bless, and keep preparing.

        • Were you on a ship or sub? I was on a sub.

        • Would you mind sharing the title? Sounds interesting.

      15. They will try to tax more/steal more,but soon folks will revolt(the few that have anything left!),no matter what they try,will not long term work,the system will crash and a new one arise,whether any better is up to the folks living with said system.Look what a few lone folks snapping can do,multiply by mearly a 1000 and the country would be in chaos,am sure on another note more then a 1000 ready to snap.

        The free army will snap but go down for most part with a whimper,but,will take a few cities along the way.

      16. Here in Canada our Federal pension plan was going broke so the government gave control to a small group of non government types and now the fund is thriving and at last count was good for at least 70 years. No political interference was key to success.

      17. I’m gonna be fully vested in 2 years but I’m not counting on getting shit. Hammerhead is right contracts are broken all the time. I will die with boots on as well. Right now I just spend my life at work on the weekends I continue my agenda. Let’s face it. People say they are gonna do this and that and nothing gets done. I don’t put much confidence in promises especially if $ is involved. Our labor is being stolen for a lousy paycheck. Wages are the same as they have been for years. It’s on us as individuals to look out for ourselves. When the machine breaks down which it is we will have to defend our shit tooth and nail. The pension funds are huge with $ for tyrants to steal. They will go after your personal accounts eventually for the greater good of course. They will come for your food and water last. Then it will be ugly. Remember don’t steal the gov hates competition.

      18. My friends elderly widowed mother received a “We regret to inform you” letter last month regarding her late husband’s pension. They gave her 6 months notice that the pension funds “dried up” and she would be receiving checks throughout the remainder of the year, but the final check will be in December.

        Her husband worked for a manufacturing company for 38 yrs. He started receiving his pension checks when he retired in the 90’s and then she continued getting a portion of the checks after his death a few yrs ago.

        Her mortgage is paid off, but she said she depends upon the monthly check to make ends meet and to pay the monthly property taxes, utilities & water. So based upon where she lives I figure the check is around $800-$900 per month.

        There’s nothing she can do about it and might have to move in with one of her grown kids next year. That was the first time I heard of a pension check being discontinued from someone I know personally.

        • Pension funds going broke has been a fact of life from the beginning of time. That’s why there has been for a while now a Federal (*hack, spit*) program that is supposed to take over funding of failed pensions. If I remember right, it was put in place to backstop pensions for steel workers, (or maybe railroad workers?) Of course, a lot of companies took the opportunity to shed their pension plans onto the taxpayers this way. Which means that the program is now deep in the hole; added to all the rest of the FedGov’s unfunded liabilities.

        • Well Common. That is the problem. The pension should never have been so generious. the wife who never produced shouldn’t ever received a penny. She owns her home . She can sell it. there is public housing really cheap. she can get food stamps ect. However no Way should the rest of society including her children be robbed so she can maintain her lifestyle. If the widow had of got a job and worked She would have some Social security to draw. I don’t feel sorry for her. She mooched off her husband. Then mooched off his pension. Now she will maybe mooch off her children?

          • If her late husband got a SS pension, she should be getting at SS survivor’s benefit. Argue whether that’s right if you want, but that’s the law.

          • Wow Old Guy! What a narrow point of view. How do you know she mooched? Perhaps she worked hard taking care of her husband and kids, making sure the family unit stayed strong and healthy. Again, old pensioners were given Lower wages with the promise of retirement benefits that would extend to the spouse at a Lower amount upon his/her death. The reality is you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. And why is it a problem for her own family to take her in? That is how it should be before you ask society to take care of you, you take care of each other within your family unit. Selling the home is a way for her to access some funds that she does have available and then she can contribute with her own family.

            • That’s right DAMed – she did take care of the household and their 3 children. She enabled her husband to work without having to do any of the cooking, cleaning, errands, raising of the kids and all household chores.

              If she had died when the 3 kids were young it would have cost him a bundle to pay someone to come in and do all she did everyday. Sadly, some people devalue women’s work.

              She does receive his SS Retirement benefits but can’t possibly make ends meet on that alone, without his partial pension that she was receiving and that he had paid into.

              My point (and you know who you are that missed it) was that the pension vanished and it’s the first time I ever heard that from someone I personally know regarding a pension that was started in the 1960’s.

              I know many people who lost their 401’s, but never heard of a pension plan that was started many decades ago and suddenly after 20 yrs of collecting payments is vanishing.

              To those who think she’s just another “woman moocher”, she is not going to “mooch” off the system, never has never will. Her kids would rather her move in with one of them than apply for subsidized housing. The (on-topic) point was that pensions disappearing is becoming more common.

        • I find it hard to believe she never thought of getting a survivors SS benefit from her deceased husband and at age 66 she can get the whole amount seeing her husband worked for a private company… as long as she was married for about 12 years to him while he was alive.

          Some people don’t plan their future when they get old. It is serious stuff to plan out.

          • Woogie – She does get that. They are discontinuing the private, (not govt) pension payments which she used to make ends meet. She lives here on the East Coast. It’s very expensive, but it’s the only place she knows and at her age she’s too old to move to a cheaper state and to move away from her kids and grand kids would kill her.

            Companies shouldn’t make promises they couldn’t keep. I believe the funds were raided by greedy bastards & TPTB. They also wasted money and make self-serving decisions because they can’t do much of anything right.

            None of my (now deceased) aunts & uncles and grandparents had their pensions cut off. This pension raid has been occurring more frequently and more recently. My dad got his pension until he died and then and my mom collected a portion of his pension after he died up until she passed.

            If she were still alive she wouldn’t be able to make ends meet just with my dad’s social security. Women back then stayed home with their children, they didn’t have careers.

            • If she cant make it now at present living in a paid for house. On Social Security survivors beniftis. Just wat is going to happen when things get really bad? I myself Draw a social security Ponzi Check. Im not dependent on it. If the day comes (very Likely) that its no longer received you bet I wont starve. And my wife took care of 4 children he the youngest started school She went and got a Job. And we all together took care of the house work. And she still works an I babysit the grandchildren an take care of most of the house work. my Point Is if she and others like her cant adjust now. What are they going to do when SHTF

      19. The only way things are going to change for the better is when stand up and fight back and hold our ground. And get all these regulations out of here. We need the good police and locals to come together but we need the political bastards gone.

      20. from 2013

        Poland Confiscates Half Of Private Pension Funds To “Cut” Sovereign Debt Load

        h ttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-06/poland-confiscates-half-private-pension-funds-cut-sovereign-debt-load

        and Poland is not the only government that has done this

      21. from 2013

        Poland Confiscates Half Of Private Pension Funds To “Cut” Sovereign Debt Load

        h ttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-06/poland-confiscates-half-private-pension-funds-cut-sovereign-debt-load

        and Poland is not the only government that has done this

      22. Did he say “a Sisyphean task”? As in the myth of Sisyphus? Hadn’t heard of ole Sissypants since back in my college days. Ahh, the memories. Rolling a keg up the tailgate of a pickup, only to have it roll back down. Over and over. We researched Sisyphus almost every weekend.
        Dang, now I’m gonna have to hit youtube and reminisce over some classic rock for a while. Yall be good…..

      23. Perhaps This Is Obama’s Grand Strategy

        ht tp://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/…-strategy.html

        “Has Obama’s strategy been to weaken all other major economies so that the U.S. will still be able to avoid a collapse”

        • Washington would know, he’s almost a paid member of the Halfrican’s staff.

          • accusation

            followed by facts ???

            • Just read his blog. All the facts you need.

      24. Its us baby boomers fault. We where supposed to die off while we where still slaving away. Die before ever collecting a penny. And many of us did but not enough. Too many have the counstition of Rasputen and they cant even poision us off. And yes its a Mathmatical Problem. You cant fix a math problem by voting. Voting is a popularity contest. And the most popular cantidates are the ones who make the problem worse & dole out the most freebees.

      25. The only way for the govt. to increase revenues is by taxation or money printing. Either way the money is worth less.

      26. See your $ isn’t yours it’s the govs. They let you hold onto it and use it . But when they want it back they are gonna get it. There isn’t shit you gonna do about it either. You are better off hiding it somewhere not under the mattress.

      27. Its about Power. Funds won’t go “broke” in the sense we think of broke. They will pay out less in inflation adjusted dollars. If you folks think $10-$20T had any effect on the price at the grocery store, then you’ll be whistling when you see what has to happen now. The ONLY WAY to keep the system in tact is avalanche of credit. Millionaire is nothing. Billionaire will be nothing.

      28. Instead of vanishing in the air, maybe I just take out the pension loan($20K w 5% interest rate) to pay off debt and continue prepping?

      29. Houston TX is on that list too.

      30. When I started my job 10 years ago it was tempting to join the 401 because my company matches dollar for dollar what you put in. I actually wondered every now and then in the beginning if I was doing the right thing by just saving on my own. But in 2008 thru now hearing the horror stories of people loosing it all…I think I did the right thing.

      31. Make that 150 Days, not 6. The flood of Noah’s day “created” the Grand Canyon & that flood occurred approx. 2,000 years after the “Six Days” of Creation.

        That flood lasted 5-months @ 30 Days Each. Reference Genesis chapters 6-9.

        If you enjoy bwahaha’ing “religious folk,” at least get the story straight. Otherwise we see you as just another Biblically-ignorant internet dummie running his mouth. 🙂

      32. ha i just turned 50 i doubt there will be anything left in 2030 to collect from all the SS paid in by me and employers for the last 35 years

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