US Pensions Retirement Heist

[ShockediSay]

"As recently as a decade ago there was a trillion dollars, a quarter of a trillion in surplus assets," in corporate funds .... "There was plenty of money in pension plans; there was plenty to pay the benefits but corporations went about taking the money away...." {T}his .... was no accident .... {C}orporations have been "exaggerating their retiree burdens" and plundering retirement plans in a variety of ways, including:
Siphon billions of dollars from their pension plans to finance downsizings and sell the assets in merger deals.
Overstate the burden of rank-and-file retiree obligations to justify benefits cuts, while simultaneously using the savings to inflate executive pay and pensions.
Hide growing executive pension liabilities, which at some companies now exceed the liabilities for the regular pension plans.
Purchase billions of dollars of life insurance on workers and use the policies as informal executive pension funds. When the insured workers and retirees die, the company collects tax-free death benefits.
Exclude millions of low-paid workers from 401(k)'s to make the plans more valuable to the top-paid.

According to Schultz {author of Retirement Heist! U.S. Pensions Plundered By Corporate Greed} these and related measures have become commonplace among Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Bank of America, JP Morgan, IBM, Cigna, General Motors, GM, Comcast, UPS and the NFL, just to name a few.

U.S. corporate pension plans now face a $388 billion gap based on a recent report from Credit Suisse. That's a bigger hole than they faced at the height of the financial crisis. Companies claim it's a result of the 2008-09 stock market crash, higher costs and an aging workforce.

Schultz claims that's bogus. "It didn't have to happen," she says, noting executive compensation has risen dramatically over the same time frame. "As they've cut other people's benefits with pensions being frozen, they have increased the benefits of the executives both pay and pensions."

Retirement Heist! U.S. Pensions Plundered By Corporate Greed, Author Says
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/retirement-heist-u-pensions-plundered-corporate-greed-author-131151510.html;_ylt=Au0puyodpnZu6BXiW67wBlC7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2ZnA0OWk5BHBvcwMxMgRzZWMDdG9wU3RvcmllcwRzbGsDcmV0aXJlbWVudGhl?sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=

****************
The Repuglickems are continually regurgitating their repetitious talking points propaganda over big government. Would you prefer to have Big Corporate ruling and ruining your life?

And the more of your pensions they rip off, the more the Big Corporate Money Billionaire Bosses put in their pockets.

So who is it that’s waging ‘class warfare?’ Plus I would definitely call this a tax on pensions leveled by Big Corporate.

Wake up and scream

[Avalux]

1. They are stealing our money. Our economy IS a ponzi scheme.

And that's precisely what Occupy Wall St. is all about; they just need a more cohesive message as the movement grows.

[Pharaoh]

2. +1000!