Uncivil Rights
A BLOG rife with wit, sarcasm, and the endless joy which comes from taunting the socialistic and unpatriotic liberal left. Logical thoughts and musings ONLY need reply...unless you're really, really funny. You have the Uncivil Right to be an IDIOT.
"Give me LIBERTY, or give me DEATH!"
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
The Importance of Private Accounts
The following paragraphs may be somewhat boring to many of you, but if you are at all interested on the Social Security debate, private/public pension issues, and/or political skullduggery it may be well worth the read.
In the state of Illinois, at this moment, there is an attempted cash grab by the vulture Blagojevich and his minions. They have their hungry, greedy eyes on a pension fund know as IMRF (the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund).
IMRF is a pension fund in which all Illinois municipal employees are forced to enroll in. Much like in Social Security, these employees have no choice…the pension is taken directly from their checks. And much like Social Security employees have no actual account with their name on it…but we will return to that later.
Back to the cash grab.
From AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Council 31, Legislative Update:
Let me explain. The governor wants to cut pensions on State employees, and also dip into the state pension trust fund. Basically, he wants state access to the amount of monies left over after benefits are paid to those currently drawing a pension.
But it gets worse, and here is where IMRF comes back in. You will remember IMRF is the municipal employee pension. Mr. Blagojevich has proposed combining the IMRF fund with the State pension fund. Currently IMRF invests $18 billion after paying beneficiaries and the State fund around $10 billion. The Illinois governor sees dollar signs. He feels if he can combine the funds, not only will IMRF save the state pension, but he will also have that much more in his lusted after ‘trust fund’ to use on whatever pet projects he deems worthy.
This is patently wrong.
And it points directly to the problem with not only these pension funds, but also Social Security. And the problem is they are not personal accounts. John Doe does not own his pension account. When he retires, his benefits are paid out of the trust fund. Because Mr. Doe has no personal account but is paid from a trust fund, the trust fund can be used by the state(or in the case of Social Security-the Feds)for whatever whim they see fit.
If John Doe had a private account, the government could not touch his money. They could not drain the trust fund. They could not combine pensions merely to grab cash. They could not steal from John Doe’s account.
Even beyond the pension issue, this is a Democratic governor walking a fine line of union busting. Mr. Blagojevich relied heavily on unions in his bid for election. And now his greed is pitting members of the same AFSCME union (municipal vs. state) against one another. He teases the state employees with a boon to their pensions, while at the same time striking fear in the municipal employees with a loss of theirs. Where is your Democratic love of unions here, Mr. Governor?
All totaled, few issues hit so many conservative bias’ as this fiasco.
First, the employee is forced to pay into these accounts…where is the choice?
Second, he does not actually own his account…echoes of socialism.
Third, because he is not a private owner of his account, the government can basically pirate his money. And then use it to prop up whatever failing government program or liberal boondoggle they need to get reelected.
Fourth, it shows the political process at its worst and most evil. The governor is playing state and municipal employees and their unions against each other in a money grabbing Machiavellian scheme.
This is Illinois politics at its worst, and that says a lot. But the key issues are truly country wide in scale. When pensions (and this includes Social Security) are not personally owned, they become easy prey to government pilfering and abuse. It is private ownership that keeps the vultures at bay. But even now they circle, smelling the death of your retirement dreams.
Crossposted @ The Blogger News Network
and Sticks and Stones
In the state of Illinois, at this moment, there is an attempted cash grab by the vulture Blagojevich and his minions. They have their hungry, greedy eyes on a pension fund know as IMRF (the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund).
IMRF is a pension fund in which all Illinois municipal employees are forced to enroll in. Much like in Social Security, these employees have no choice…the pension is taken directly from their checks. And much like Social Security employees have no actual account with their name on it…but we will return to that later.
Back to the cash grab.
From AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Council 31, Legislative Update:
‘The Governor’s pension proposals would cut the benefits of all current university employees and teachers (employed by school districts), as well as those of all newly hired teachers, state and university employees. The resulting two-tier pension system would inevitably have the impact of holding down any further pension improvements from current AFSCME members. These cuts are being used to justify massive borrowing from the pension funds in the coming year-but in actuality, the cuts would generate almost no immediate savings.’
Let me explain. The governor wants to cut pensions on State employees, and also dip into the state pension trust fund. Basically, he wants state access to the amount of monies left over after benefits are paid to those currently drawing a pension.
But it gets worse, and here is where IMRF comes back in. You will remember IMRF is the municipal employee pension. Mr. Blagojevich has proposed combining the IMRF fund with the State pension fund. Currently IMRF invests $18 billion after paying beneficiaries and the State fund around $10 billion. The Illinois governor sees dollar signs. He feels if he can combine the funds, not only will IMRF save the state pension, but he will also have that much more in his lusted after ‘trust fund’ to use on whatever pet projects he deems worthy.
This is patently wrong.
And it points directly to the problem with not only these pension funds, but also Social Security. And the problem is they are not personal accounts. John Doe does not own his pension account. When he retires, his benefits are paid out of the trust fund. Because Mr. Doe has no personal account but is paid from a trust fund, the trust fund can be used by the state(or in the case of Social Security-the Feds)for whatever whim they see fit.
If John Doe had a private account, the government could not touch his money. They could not drain the trust fund. They could not combine pensions merely to grab cash. They could not steal from John Doe’s account.
Even beyond the pension issue, this is a Democratic governor walking a fine line of union busting. Mr. Blagojevich relied heavily on unions in his bid for election. And now his greed is pitting members of the same AFSCME union (municipal vs. state) against one another. He teases the state employees with a boon to their pensions, while at the same time striking fear in the municipal employees with a loss of theirs. Where is your Democratic love of unions here, Mr. Governor?
All totaled, few issues hit so many conservative bias’ as this fiasco.
First, the employee is forced to pay into these accounts…where is the choice?
Second, he does not actually own his account…echoes of socialism.
Third, because he is not a private owner of his account, the government can basically pirate his money. And then use it to prop up whatever failing government program or liberal boondoggle they need to get reelected.
Fourth, it shows the political process at its worst and most evil. The governor is playing state and municipal employees and their unions against each other in a money grabbing Machiavellian scheme.
This is Illinois politics at its worst, and that says a lot. But the key issues are truly country wide in scale. When pensions (and this includes Social Security) are not personally owned, they become easy prey to government pilfering and abuse. It is private ownership that keeps the vultures at bay. But even now they circle, smelling the death of your retirement dreams.
Crossposted @ The Blogger News Network
and Sticks and Stones
gblagg, 6:49 PM
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