Pension Crisis is a $5 Trillion Unsustainable Scam – Alex Newman
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Journalist Alex Newman says the virus crisis has exposed the financial debacle of the $5 trillion shortfall in state and local pensions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says “states should file bankruptcy.” President Trump says a “federal bailout would not be fair.” Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says states are “not going to be bailed out.” As unemployment soars by the millions and taxes implode, pensions are running out of money to pay lavish benefits promised to public workers. Newman contends, “It’s unsustainable, it’s a rip-off, it’s a scam. These people are being used and manipulated, too. The reason Democrat politicians agree to these things is not because they love police and firefighters, it’s because they want the votes from big labor. It’s a really nasty political machine, and I was happy for Senator McConnell to talk about this. What you have here is huge government employee unions run by communist, radical leftists, Deep State operatives that suck up all this money . . . and then they recycle that money back into the campaign coffers of Democrat politicians. . . . Then they say, oh sure, we will give you a bigger pension, and, sure, we will give you more benefits, and it’s a vicious cycle. . . . They have been creating this massive Ponzi scheme, and now they are saying coronavirus caused this, and now we need a federal bailout. Sorry, it’s not going to work. . . .A lot of these issues are now getting exposed. This is the first time in years that we are having a national discussion about this tsunami that’s about to swallow up our economy.”
In the bigger picture, Newman says, “What’s happening here is an organized Deep State consolidation of power and consolidation of economic control. . . . We are going to see massive consolidation out of this, and who’s going to end up on top? Big government, big business and the big banks. Who’s going to end up paying for it all? That’s you and I and the people watching this video, the normal taxpaying hard working citizen who is just trying to make ends meet.”
Newman also says, “Right now, President Trump is talking about rebuilding our infrastructure. One reason our infrastructure is crumbling is 1/4 to 1/3 of our state and local government budgets are going to fund public pension plans. This is a good opportunity to rebuild our infrastructure, but we have to use some common sense here. We can’t keep paying these enormous pensions.”
In closing, Newman says, “The idea that the federal government cannot bail everybody out is self-evidentially ludicrous. The government can’t bail out the workers, the companies, states, local governments and the churches. It is self evidentially ridiculous. I hope President Trump can make some progress on it, but the task is so big and so complicated I feel like it would take a miracle to have some success on this.”
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Alex Newman, International Correspondent for The New American Magazine and founder of LibertySentinel.org.
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After the Interview:
Alex Newman is a writer for TheNewAmerican.com. Newman also has his own website called LibertySentinel.org. You can find his latest article on the top right side of the home page that’s called “Despite Bailout, Pension Tsunami Threatens to Crush US.” Both sites are free and packed with original analysis and reporting.
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About the Author
Greg Hunter
Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
Robert Kiyosaki ‘ Who Stole My Pension? How You Can Stop the Looting’ is a great read.
Anthony,
Good point: the pension funds were looted; public pension funds among them. Indeed, that’s why they are so underfunded. The public pension funds were looted by the politicians and the majority of the voters who voted for them. They did this in order to avoid paying the costs of big government. The politicians, both Democrat and Republican (in America) — supported by the majority of the people — stole and redirected the fruits of the public empolyees’ labor.
Our financial problems are complicated and intricate. There are many villains. Mr. Newman’s analysis is woefully inadequate and partial. Instead of looking at the situation from all sides, he slyly tries to “scapegoat” employees, especially public employees.
Mr. Newman ignores many of the facts about who did the rent-seeking and the looting of the public treasury generally. He ignores all but one of the special interests who influence politicians. He wants us to believe that because elected politicians made unfair deals with some employees, that even employees who did not benefit from those deals should be included among the culprits. Worse, where was his acknowledgment of the much-more massive favors politicians and the Fed have handed out to banks and other big businesses?
Mr. Newman wants to complete the looting of the employees who have already delivered on their end of the bargain. Apparently, he doesn’t believe in contracts, promises, truth, or justice. That’s why he focuses so tightly on certain salient abuses that the politicians should never have allowed to happen in the first place. That’s why he overgeneralizes about the compensation packages to which public employees agreed in exchange for their labor; that’s why he ignores the fact that some public employees work “at will” and do NOT enjoy better protections than management and others in the private sector; that’s why he conveniently ignores the that fact that many public employees actually do make far less than their private counterparts, which is why many of them leave public service for the higher compensation they can make elsewhere.
America’s public debt is now over $25 Trillion for the federal government alone. I’m curious: Does Mr. Newman think that went to state pension funds? Where does Mr. Newman think the “missing $21 Trillion” went? Where does he think the vast majority of the massive Treasury/Fed-financed bailouts go? Why so one-sided an “analysis”?
Thank you William for very eloquently saying what I felt. Woefully biased interview. Seemed to focus on blaming Democrats when possible ( and throws in lgbtq community for good measure? Lol ) for very intricate financial problems facing most aspects of our financial system which is on the whole…..bankrupt.
Karen: Yes, I’m very biased. I’m biased against having my children and grandchildren saddled with trillions in debt slavery before they are even born so that corrupt Democrats, mega-banks, unions, and other criminals can live high on the hog.
Government employees are merely collateral damage in this. But obviously, they cannot expect taxpayers to pay for this. Sorry. As I said in the interview, it’s a math question. There is NO way to make it work, and even if it were possible, it would be outrageous.
The sooner this gets addressed, the less painful it will be for everyone.
Alex,
RE: “The sooner this gets addressed, the less painful it will be for [EVERYONE].”
Please try to get a better grip on reality.
Sorry you feel that way, sir. If you followed my work, you’d know that I have been sounding alarm about all the other things you mention for my entire career. In fact, aside from a handful of articles I’ve written (out of thousands) on this topic, the interview with Greg may be the first major work I’ve done exposing this problem. Also, to be clear, I never blamed public employees, but rather the politicians and the unions that schemed to loot the American people.
Thanks for coming on Alex.
Greg
Alex,
Stop. You didn’t give a balanced analysis of the best path forward in a situation where all promises cannot be met. What you gave was a blatant rationalization for not honoring some promises. Since you know better, I think you should reflect upon that failure.
William,
I, and many taxpayers, did NOT make this “promise.” It was made for us taxpayers. Teamsters had a 50% cut in pension benefits a few years ago, and nobody rode in and made them whole. The sad fact is these benefit packages are going to have to be cut. It is not fair to tax taxpayers to pay even more to make the public servants whole. It is not fair for taxpayers public union employees don’t get this. So sorry to disagree with you on this. Private unions enter into collective bargaining to get a piece of the company profits. In public unions there are NO PROFITS just tax payers. You simply cannot elevate one group of public employees at the expense of the taxpayer who is already suffering. Cuts are needed and that is a fact. I don’t wish bad on you or anyone else but the taxpayer should not be the only ones making a sacrifice. We are talking about $5 trillion in shortfall here. Public employees are not, and should not, be held at a higher level that taxpayers footing the bill.
Greg
Mr. Hunter:
1. Everybody is hurting (well, maybe not some Wall Street types).
2. I’m not arguing that cuts don’t have to be made. However, I think you’re improperly trying to wiggle out from our moral obligations to our government employees: Our government employees gave their service with the reasonable expectation that we (the government) would honor our side of the deal — even if that means that the we, i.e., the state, must economize in other areas (or raise taxes) to do so. Let’s not “pee” down their backs and tell them it’s raining. Let’s not add insult to injury. Just because we don’t like big government, we shouldn’t try — after the fact — to offload our burdens onto the backs of the workers who have already provided their services. Let’s not steal.
3. I’m not arguing that FEDERAL taxpayers are MORALLY bound to bail out STATE government retirees at all. If their states won’t pay what they owe them, then they should be in the same boat as everyone else.
4. An accounting note: Private pensions are NOT paid out of “profits.” The compensation owed to their employees, whether on a current or deferred basis, is an expense of doing business.
It’s the same for state and local governments: deferred compensation is an obligatory expense; and full provisions should be made for meeting those obligations when they come due. It’s immoral not to fully fund pension funds; it’s sort of like when an embezzler “intends” to pay back what he stole . . . as soon as he wins the lottery.
5. Yes, taxpayers DO owe their employees the deferred-compensation component for the work that their employees have already provided. Morally, we are NOT on the same basis as them. It’s no different from refusing to pay back any other debt: the employees gave us the value of their time and efforts contingent upon the promise of being repaid — in part in the future — and we took that value in the form of police protection, schooling for your children, road maintenance, and other services. Just because we’ve run into hard times doesn’t change that moral obligation.
6. HOWEVER, I do agree that we can’t pay what we don’t have. BUT let’s not pretend that we didn’t really owe it in the first instance.
William,
I and many other taxpayers did not make any obligations moral or otherwise. Also, YES, private pensions are indeed paid out of profits. You have to have profits to pay the expense in private business. We don’t have a free button out here in the real world. As far as moral obligation public unions should be “morally” responsible not to get into business dealings with politicians at the expense of the taxpayer. What makes public employees any different that the Teamsters who took a 50% cut in benefits? So, you think you should confiscate all the money from taxpayers needed to make public union employees whole? So, the Taxpayer pays and public employees get special privilege’s for working for taxpayers that taxpayers do not get. That’s not moral that’s a crock. That’s going to be a tough sell to voters which is why Democrats are seeking a bailout they cannot sell. We are going to have to agree to disagree. I say get ready for cuts as the people you voted for over promised what was needed to buy your vote. Shame on the public union reps for not telling you all this was never going to get paid. They knew it all along.
Greg
Should military pensions be defaulted on?
Bob,
Lots of sacrifices will have to be made. Should you take more money from taxpayers to make them whole.
Greg
Many people have enlisted in the military under the impression that if they served 20 years they could get a 20 and out defined benefit pension with an escalator. Since the end of the Vietnam war thousands of military personnel with 12, 13 years were told they could not reenlist to prevent them from getting that pension. Was that breaking a promise?
Lots of sacrifices have been made by military and some by gov workers.
I agree, pensions are not a good idea. Should give people in military high matching 401k options maybe but to promise people unlimited time benefits is a recipe for disaster. I guess we should all not trust gov to keep promises. That line of reasoning could be backed all the way up to honoring constitution, taxes, etc.
Mr. Hunter:
Have you confused “profit” with “revenue”?
William,
You must have the money to pay these benefits as the companies cannot print money. Listen, I hope u get paid, but I am simply warning that some may not and it is going to be painful. Thank you for presenting the other aspect of this crisis and please no hard feelings because I don’t have any for you.
Greg
You people do not understand how union pensions are run. A designated amount that is negotiated between union and contractors based on hours worked by employees is paid to the pension fund administrators to be invested. There is a formula for a defied benefit to be paid out after retirement. I am holding the yearly report from my union. They are in seriously endangered status because they only have 63% of assets to cover future liabilities.
Gary,
We are not talking about private pensions. We are talking about state pensions. There are no profits with state pensions just taxp[ayers to go after.
Greg
William,
Just because ‘the promise’ of retirement comes from the government: does that mean it is an automatic, inviolate, written in stone absolute responsibility? NO. No. And no.
Absolutely – there is no difference between profit and revenue. If I don’t balance my checkbook: I go broke. If the government doesn’t balance their budget: it goes broke. Any other example is living on a Credit Card: and debt must be paid.
Social Security itself has been spent: all that ever came in, and still comes in “revenue” – is spent. It is an actually operating Ponzi scheme. Should you stop paying in? Good luck. Should you not draw from it because it is corrupt? Yeah, right.
Above a threshold – ALL PENSIONS should be cut: government, military, public; even the damn Banksters should be regulated.
As there is no immunity to CV-19: there should be no exception to sacrifice. What moral obligation is there that proceeds from a Lie? An unpayable debt is a Lie.
Step 1 in any way forward has to be facing reality, as I said. I don’t have all the answers. Neither does anyone. But what is clear is that we the struggling taxpayers cannot continue to pay these ridiculous pensions. Nor can we continue to pay for these never-ending bailouts of Big Business and Big Banks. The only possible solution is to drastically cut all government funding, and that will have to include the pensions. The alternative is national bankruptcy, or Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation that will devastate all the pension recipients anyway.
Finally, I did not make those promises. My children did not make those promises. My grandchildren not even born did not make those promises.
I understand where you are coming from–I’d be mad and frustrated too. But don’t take it out on the messenger. You should not be angry with the people warning about the coming train wreck and trying to minimize the pain. You should be mad at the people who created this mess to begin with: the public-sector unions, the corrupt politicians, the mega-banks (and their central bank) that have looted America, the fake media, the dumbed-down “education” that facilitated this fiasco, and the ignorant voters who for too long allowed it to continue.
Reality is not going away just because we don’t like it. We need to address it. It’s not going to be pretty for anyone. But the sooner we admit the facts, the sooner we can find solutions.
Alex,
It’s clear to me that you haven’t the faintest idea where I’m “coming from.”
William when you work for the government you have no guarantee that they will come through. No one can “make” government pay.
My husband is a defense attorney and after Katrina the 5th circuit decided they didn’t have the money to pay him or their choice of other people they owed money to. We were plunged into debt by the shortfall of over 100,000 dollars. Recourse? Only in fantasy land.
Working for government is working for a bully who can decide if he wants to pay you or not. Sorry for all those losing pensions, but that is not the taxpayers fault. Hard lesson to learn.
A,
1. I agree that life does not come with absolute guarantees.
2. That does NOT mean that it comes without obligations.
3. Sometimes obligations cannot be met. That does not mean that there were no obligations to begin with.
4. The “taxpayers” are also voters; and the voters DO bear responsibility for what and whom they vote.
5. I actually don’t believe your claim that you are “sorry” for those who will lose their pensions. IMO, you are trying to justify your intent to commit robbery because you were robbed.
I can only surmise that you are a current or past govt employee, or are married to o e. Your entitlement mentality is obvious and disgusting.
I’m a private sector girl myself, have only known 10 gov’t employees in my life, and NOT ONE said that they took a govt job “to serve my fellow citizens”. Every single one said they went into it for “job security” and “THE BENEFITS”. IT WAS ALL ABOUT THEM. They felt NO OBLIGATION to the people who were ostensibly those citizens’ SERVANTS… But you seem to think that YOU are the MASTER.
My pension went to the govt (PBGC), and instead of the $1200 promised in my pension, I get $210, about 10% of MY PROMISED AMOUNT. Very tough. But I knew early enough to sacrifice and live beneath my means to save for retirement.
Gov’t employees do no such thing. They don’t save in earning years, because they believe they can always go back to the taxpayers/milk cows for refresh.
You are a class of predators, and we are your prey. For shame. Your gigantic entitlement mentality is disgusting.
Furthermore, I have not seen A SINGLE GOVT EMPLOYEE that has asked to have his pay reduced during this Pandemic, while his neighbors that own businesses are suffering tremendously. NOT ONE HAS SAID, “I will voluntarily reduce my salary and benefits by 30%, in solidarity with my MASTERS, the citizens. NOT ONE. Instead, they are complaining that they aren’t getting their typical 3%/year pay raise.
DISGUSTING, callous, selfish, entitled. For shame. For shame.
should military pensions be defaulted on?
Thank you for doing this interview Alex. We follow your reporting in The New American. A great magazine! My husband receives a relatively small state pension from fire/rescue work. I do not apologize for this. We opposed the mandatory unions. and the unconstitutional government programs in our state. Our voices often fell on deaf ears. Our state is bankrupt. That is the reality. Thank you for bringing more facts out. It takes facts to understand the problem, and to know where we go from
here. Thank you.
William,
What is so one-side about the truth? You can go thru all the mental gymnastics and high sounding legalistic rationalizations that you want but when you run out of money … its game over. Back in day, we had a quaint phrase that was ingrained into our young skulls of mush , “Let the buyer beware.” Those that survived the Great Depression knew this on an even more intimate level. So when a nation can’t be bothered to rid themselves of bad politicians or conniving money changers, its the rare citizen that wants to hear they were duped! Many generations have; and we won’t be the last. SOD
SOD,
So you condone fraud because the “buyer” must beware. To my ears, that sounds like a “rationalization” for theft.
Furthermore, a half (much less a tenth) truth is a whole lie. That’s what I have against “one-sided” analyses.
William,
You’d be wrong, because this promise of a great retirement was also foisted off on me. I grew up laughing at J. Wellington Wimpy (The Popeye character that would gladly pay for his hamburger on Tuesday). The truth is Unions used a similar ploy on us. Work now for this unimpressive amount; with a promise for an unbelievable pay off later down the line. Your situation may differ —but when my grandfather (who hailed from the Great Depression era) saw this arrangement , he minced no words telling me things rarely come together as advertised — he told me to be prudent and have a good fall back plan. Its my hope your union will honor your arrangement..but I have seen too many of my age group get heart rending retirement news that has them doubting if their future will have any golden years. SOD
SOD,
You’re still missing the point. You’re arguing with your own straw man — so far, the straw man seems to be winning.
WS,
No point was missed. Good luck extracting blood from that turnip! SOD
should military pensions not be honored?
Bob … my Dad’s pension was honored until he went into the VA Hospital and they killed him!!
The Democrats and the unions were offering stolen goods that were never there to begin with. Again, don’t blame the victims here–innocent taxpayers struggling to pay their mortgage and feed their family are not to blame. Focus your anger where it belongs.
Alex,
I’m more disappointed and saddened than “angry.” Is this really the best you’ve got? Really?
U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Docket #17- 1293. A paragraph states that government don’t enter into contracts.
There have been Public sector pensions before the 401k act by many years.
In Iowa that the first public sector was given to the Judicial system in 1949.
Please read the Original Social Security Act of 1935. There was a section that covered state workers in a state run system that was co funded with the SS Administration. This was a period of time when it was not acceptable to receive tax payer money and a full pension. DOUBLE DIPPING. In June 1953 the State abolished this and created The IPERS system for themselves JULY 4, 1953..Today taxpayers pay Social Security and a State pension and it’s not considered dipping dipping . They also are eligible for a 401K style benefit, some with a $$$$ match.
These pension need a Judicial review.You don’t need a law degree to see they are UnConstitutional.
William, you my friend told the truth better than any other! Thank you for educating people!
Mr. Stanley,
Alex Newman is a man who speaks freely about the situation here in America. He has tons of great knowledge and information and he obviously doesn’t have the time in an interview of 41 minutes, to go into every minute detail. I’m sure he has an understanding of all you said in your comment, but he has to state things generally as they are. And, to put it mildly, this country is way past bankruptcy. We simply can’t afford to keep paying out these expensive government pensions. When it comes right down to it, the fiat currency system is not going to survive anyway. It will crash and the deep state will try to force the people to get vaccinated and chipped in order to be able to do business. They will use some kind of forceful situation to get the people to go to digital currency only system that can be monitored and controlled by the government. So, these people who are relying on their pensions and 401K’s in order to “retire” are going to be sorely disappointed. There ain’t going to be no retirement, sorry to say. We had better stop now while we’re behind and start “getting real” about what the situation we are in, really is. People better be putting in gardens and fruit trees, etc., etc. Don’t think you’ll have to? Just look at what Russia did to their people. With the Deep State in control of our monetary system, unless we wake up and take control, then why are we not as vulnerable and as susceptible to starving to death, just like the Russians? We are in the last days and we are in for big changes in this world. Don’t judge Alex Newman for trying to say it as quickly and concisely as he could in the amount of time given.
Beverly,
I don’t blame him for being “quick and concise.” As you say, he had 41 minutes — which is plenty of time to properly frame the issue. When he failed to do that, my alarm bells went off.
Hi Beverly,
I agree with your comment. Aside from the insurmountable problems with pensions – a ginantic ponzi scheme – the interview moved on to the ‘Covid-19 lockdown’ at approximately 18:30 minutes. IMO, Alex’s summary of the plandemic and lockdown situation was one of the most succinct I have heard. People ‘triggered’ by Alex’s realistic conclusion that pension benefits at current levels are unsustainable (no one likes to admit they were caught in a scam) should ‘wind the tape fareward’ to 18:30 and listen to the last part again. What’s at stake is far far greater than losing some pension entitlements.
Since Alex Newman’s interview on USAW, I have visited liberysentinel.org and there is much in-depth info to be found there.
Please remember it was our Father who destroyed Egypt as He used Moses to draw His people out into a desert to prove them:
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not. (3) And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.
Father promised us He will repeat His~story(history) again in these last days. Nothing will stop Him from pushing His people out into a spiritual wilderness to prove them:
https://sumofthyword.com/2016/10/04/the-rapture-of-the-church-is-after-the-tribulation/
Kiyosaki has a 5 part series of videos on the situation on youtube.
Search for “pension time bomb”
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pension+time+bomb
Everything is a scam because it’s all based on phony money, usury, and money manipulation shenanigans.
The sooner things get worse, the sooner they’ll get better.
Our Prime Minister wants to use pensions to bail out his business mates. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-16/australia-s-morrison-wants-pensions-to-fund-company-bailouts
Jake,
That is awful!!! Bankruptcy is a part of capitalism and should be used.
Greg
Its mathematically impossible to pay off the debt, regardless. Weather it’s National, State, County or Municipal. Stop bailing industry. Let them bankrupt. Airlines etc. Its hard to deny State Bailouts when your bailing out everything.
Pensions should be capped at 50k. It’s the greedy ones bringing home amounts larger than that ruining the system. This anti-union rhetoric gets old! Unions have done more for the working man than they’ve done harm over the decades. Educate yourselves before you spout off!
Why should the taxpayers pay for the mismanagement and political promises made to public worker pension systems? This has been going on for decades. It didn’t happen overnight.
It is not just the pensions. It is also the Cadillac healthcare insurance also.
Steve,
In one aspect – greedy unions served to drive the manufacturing base away from the US. Unions are not 100% good. They also poked their noses into politics: and that isn’t working out well. So the worn-out rhetoric of ‘unions have done more for the working man than they have done harm’ – may not apply anymore.
You are right about the cap, though.
Alex says: “It’s just a math question, it’s not a political question, it’s not a question of ideology.”
It’s a good realistic way to look at the problem. Basic mathematics.
JC:
How about the rest of us steal everything you have. That way the rest of us would have more. It’s not a question of politics, ethics, or ideology. It’s “realistic”; Basic mathematics.
“How about the rest of us steal everything you have.” Why should you be allowed to steal the product of another persons hard work? Do you own hard work and reap its benefits for yourself. Stop bludging off the labours of honest people to prop up your socialist view of life. markp.
Thanks, markp, that was my point.
William, I am impressed. Starting an argument with one of the guests. You have definitely upped your game from its already high level.
Thanks Mr Hunter and Mr Newman,astonishing compliance of the people of the USA,here in the UK it would be expected in fact the people joyfully prostrate themselves at the feet of the Bolsheviks,while being kicked.
The cutting of dividend has started,
https://wolfstreet.com/2020/04/28/dividend-massacre-in-this-crisis-already-breaking-records-but-it-just-started/
We now face hard times,less credit for all,
“Hard times breed strong men
Strong men breed good times
Good times breed weak men
Weak men breed hard times”
Let us pray that the hard men really emerge and grab the throat of the Communist led poison in our world.
Excellent interview.
Bankrupt pension systems front and center. Let the states manage their own problems especially California, New York, and Illinois. Even the USPS is going belly up.
Here in Phoenix during the last crisis in 2009, the city instituted a food tax of 3% to pay for “new police and fire” and for the “libraries, parks, pools”. It was all lies. They needed money to pay for the pensions. They never hired the police and fire and actually cut back on services.
They will reinstate the tax on food. People need to eat. They will increase property tax. They will increase taxes and fees on vehicle registration. They will get the money from wherever they can. Increase fees and tuition at the community colleges and state universities; which they did and have been doing for the past 10-12 years.
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/091813_food_sales_tax/phoenix-begin-phasing-out-emergency-sales-tax-food/
https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/the_valley/phoenix-sees-rise-in-sales-tax-collections/article_da6ca2b0-7e1a-11df-b475-001cc4c002e0.html
https://azplea.com/plea-news/food-tax-issue/
When I worked for the VA the union rep came around with hat in hand looking for money. A big scam.
The world is circling the drain. What a great time to be alive. The wheels are coming off in every area of the economy. Cashless society on deck. Get your nanoparticle epidermal tattoo vaccine. Thanks Bill Gates and the Luciferian cabal. Our war is against demonic forces in high places.
The churches need to get back to meeting. Get out of the Babylon system. No more tax free churches. Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The only Truth. Emmanuel. Almighty God. The Name above all Names. Seek Him. Our only hope.
eddie,
“The world is circling the drain. What a great time to be alive.” Perfect and perfect.
Actually – the conditions the world faces conduces people to consider the things of god and eternity. At least some of them are beginning to listen.
“God”
Wow, who would ever have thought, want to end up a millionaire, work for the government!
JC … Every politician has those thoughts … and they all end up millionaires!!
Alex and Greg,
Maybe i missed it but I have a VERY important question?
HOW MUCH DID THESE PEOPLE PAY IN TO THE SYSTEM ?
Give us a couple examples of the 100, 200 400,000 pension payouts.
The reason for my question is this.
When my auntie retired from the public school system and told me how much she got on pension i was astounded…i asked, “WOW, how much did you pay in?’
When I got my answer I did some simple math…which all teachers are capable of, and determined that she only payed in a small fraction (20%) of the money she was pulling out.
I asked her if she had done the math and she said yes. So I then asked her how she thought it would be sustainable ? Her answer gets to the PITH of my question….”
Thats NOT MY PROBLEM, that’s what they promised me.” To which i responded “But at some point you knew it was a Ponzi scheme and you still participated and still expect them to honor a Ponzi scheme ?” To which she then discontinued the conversation.
The only way to fix this are draconian cuts to the payouts and tied to the private systems as alluded to.
Forgive me Lord, but I have NO SORROW for someone that knowingly participated in a Ponzi and EXPECTS it to work for them.
How many people in the Maydoff Ponzi scandal were made whole or continue to receive their dividends ?
Respectfully
The IOWA Public Employee Retirement System {IPERS} document states that the plan sponsor is responsible for underfunding. Iowa is approximately 6.5 billion underfunded.That belongs to the taxpayer once again. This is a scam put together by Wall Street and your state legislature.
You can’t see what part of your property taxes goes to the State retirement system. It’s shown as school, city,county tax to operate those organizations.
There is little to no risk in working for state ,county, municipal or school.
The elected official administrate the scam . They get this pension benefit also.
People who knowingly participate in Ponzi schemes for what they are – your auntie for example – are as much thieves as those who create them because they know they’re stealing from the latecomer group of suckers and it doesn’t bother them in the least. That would be premeditated theft IMHO.
But what is really interesting to me is, when are the current batch of suckers going to wise up and realize that they are being played and will very highly likely never collect on the promises made to them and therefore refuse to participate any further? Are they terminally clueless?
Your analogy of a Ponzi scheme is valid if, and only if, you presume that all of the pension money to be paid out would necessarily come from the pension amounts deducted from pay during the working years of the employees, but, that was never intended to be the case.
Defined-benefit pensions are deferred compensation. They are not a part of salary, they are a benefit in addition to salary, but deferred until after retirement.
Funding a pension is precisely the same responsibility as making payroll. But, if payroll isn’t made, the employee can just walk away. But, since the compensation was deferred until after retirement, the retiree has no recourse to enforce payment. That is a reason why pensions are protected by law.
Greg Talk to John Adams in Australia,would be a super guest,he has a great insight to what is happening to this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K2OcrN10QI&t=189s
I enjoy Alex Neuman .. but we really need the next batch of Bo Polny’s interpretations of the Holy Word … so you can defend that … because I am not seeing DJ 15,000 by 4/21 +/- 7 days … oh maybe he had yet another misinterpretation … maybe the starting date was Jan 20 (inauguration date) … lots of great analysts know the crash is coming so just keep claiming your the one … it isn’t hard to figure out … but the smart ones do not believe they understand God’s timing for anything!
Hi Pauly,
One thing that did happen during that time was an oil crash. Markets are and can be manipulated, the oil price should have hammered the equity markets.
No argument there … not hard to figure out why that occurred with the world wide shutdown … of course given I believe in the infallibility of God, and that Bo Polny’s interpretation as described in God’s 7 kingdoms did not come through, I will credit him with the error. Hope nobody shorted the market on his analysis.
Behold, we are slaves this day, and as for the land that You gave to our fathers to eat the fruit and the good of it, behold, we are slaves in it. And its rich yield goes to the kings, whom You have set over us because of our sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasures. And we are in great distress. Nehemiah 9:36-37 Amplified Version I wish I had some of Nancy Pelosi’s ice cream; very hot here, 16 more days and I can leave the house.
Another winner…where do you get them all from?
Ronnie; are you referring to Self Exiled?
Great speech AN.
Greg, you & your guests are so far ahead of the front lines in the details where few dare to report! The internet clarion USAWATCHDOG.COM!
Thank you for your leadership in a time of Great darkness!
Thanks Ed!!
Greg
Sir Manly Robinson 0 4/28/2020 • USAWatchdog.com
The point is a lot of people that criticise gold speculate about its usefulness in the worst case scenario, as in food is scarce and everyone is starving, hence: ‘you cant eat gold’. No one will trade food for gold is the conclusion.
So it is only fair to evaluate farmland in the same worst case scenario: a world where starving people roam the lands looking for their next meal. You don’t think in this case people will invade farms looking for food or that governments will take over farms or confiscate produce?
Do you think farmers will be vigilant 24 hours every day or have an inexhaustible supply of ammo to repel the masses?
Maybe Paul has the right idea and go incognito and grow sprouts indoors. The chickens in the yard, I fear, will become someone else’s supper.
Reply •
White farmers killings in Africa | VPRO Documentary
82,647 views•Oct 5, 2019
/https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Ubvkep0jQ
◄ Matthew 24 ►
21 This will be the worst time of suffering since the beginning of the world, and nothing this terrible will ever happen again. 22If God doesn’t make the time shorter, no one will be left alive. But because of God’s chosen ones, he will make the time shorter.
Contemporary English Version
Still ALIVE!
They lived through the Spanish flu pandemic and they just beat the coronavirus
By Staff, AccuWeather
Published Apr. 16, 2020 | Updated Apr. 20, 2020
https://www.accuweather.com/en/health-wellness/woman-103-reveals-the-3-things-that-helped-her-beat-the-new-coronavirus/720984?utm_source=miximedia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=miximedia&partner=accu_audience_miximedia
◄ Matthew 24 ► The Return of the Son of Man
The lesson of the Fig Tree
32″Now learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branches have now become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you all know that summer is near. 33So you also, when you see all these signs, may be sure that He is near—at your very door. 34I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation [still alive] will certainly not pass away without all these things having first taken place.
I am honoured. Thankyou.
Talking to a wealthy wise man yesterday I asked how he would fair through this storm. He laughed, and said ( us vultures with everything paid for will clean up. ) We are about to see the biggest wealth exchange in history.
Yep, it has only just begun.
Greg, The first link on my comment, as you can see above, didn’t take. Because of the / forward slash, at the beginning of the first link web address.
/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Ubvkep0jQ
Proper link web address below, no slash /at beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Ubvkep0jQ
That little difference made a big difference!
If you could just remove it, the slash /, or copy and paste the proper link, much appreciated!
Thanks Shel
You lost all credibility with me when you called all union workers Communists.
Red,
Alex was talking about public unions not private unions. Private unions go after a piece of the profits. (Fine with me.) With public unions there are only taxpayers and NO profits. Please note the huge distinction.
Greg
Everyone is Communist now, especially Trump with his centrally planned economy. Does he sit at the top of Trump tower plotting tomorrow’s price of oil?
You need to educate yourself Greg! Did you dad brainwash you at a young age about public unions? Sad!!!
Sam Jeeps, since so you’re so smart and enlightened, why don’t YOU educate us, you know, us, the ones who have been “brainwashed,” along with Greg.
there are a lot of public employees that don’t belong to a union
Redemocracy2,
There’s a lot more out there that you wouldn’t be able to accept as well. Maybe being a little less strict when coming to solid conclusions would be a good thing. Someone was talking about who leads the Democrats and Deep State, etc. Well, this is what I have to say on that subject:
There’s lots of people out there who can’t accept this, but the Catholic Church is very much involved in the United Nations/Communism/New World Order scheme. It’s been their goal for years to be in control of both Church and State, but control the whole world. They are not who you think they are. They pretend to love Jesus when they don’t. Check out Leo Zagami. The Catholic Church also has “black Popes” controlling the financial part of their scheme and they have Jesuits at the top.
Bingo!
I hope people will listen to you Beverly!
There is a new update by Stu at The Age of Desolation. There’s a lot of good stuff about 911, The Deep State, The Q Psyop, UFO’s and more, if anyone is interested. For example, I think this statement below is quite meaningful, and a reason that I follow USA Watchdogs’ Weekly News Wrap-Ups to get a clear picture of what is really going on.
G.A. Stewart: Most people are happy not to think too hard about the facts in today or yesterday’s news, because nobody can compete against official lies.
Here is G. A. Stewart’s theory on why people will have a massive meltdown. We have a papered over reality. Everything today is pencil-whipped; it is a world of illusion and management-by-Email.
Here is a quote from the friend of a reader who recommended this Website and my book. Even though it made me laugh, it is food for consideration when people run out of food.
“I will kick you and Stu in the ass, then buy his book and burn it right in front of both of you. How about that?“
These are the sounds that you will hear from the primitives as the world slides into another Dark Age.
https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/index.php/2020/04/29/the-conspiracy-theory-clown-show-part-i/
There is also food for thought regarding Covid-19.
A few days after the April 19th Canadian mass shooting, an InfoWars.com article noted the similarities of the COVID-19 pandemic to some of the ritual pageantry that appeared at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
If readers click on the link to Nostradamus’ Pagan Sect of New Infidels, they can scroll down to see that I wrote extensively about the 2012 London Summer Olympics and all the death and pagan symbolism that appeared in the opening and closing ceremonies.
Nostradamus and the Age of Desolation, G. A. Stewart, 2013, Pages 425
The role of sick children and dancing nurses in the opening ceremony was prominently visible.
https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/index.php/2020/04/29/the-conspiracy-theory-clown-show-part-i/
Top E.R. Doctor Who Treated Virus Patients Dies by Suicide
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/nyregion/new-york-city-doctor-suicide-coronavirus.html
Is this what we have become? Full term abortion and this; if it can be proven. I don’t speak the language but definitely should be investigated.
https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=145280
No one stole anyone’s pension. It was a Ponzi scheme to begin with and they got caught.
There is a very simple solution here:
– Determine the size of the entire pension pool
– Calculate everyone’s share of the pool using present value calculations
– Give every person a one-time, tax-free, penalty-free lump sum cash payout
Done.
The fact that they’re not willing to do this makes me very suspicious.
DS39,
That is what I was trying to say in my above post…you did it more pithily 🙂
regards,
VegasRob
Your “simple solution” doesn’t allow the money manipulators/managers to feed off of the scheme in a continuous never ending manner. That’s why they will never allow it to be “Done”! That would mean the feeding frenzy would also be Done! That is not a solution for them.
Hmmmmmm………
Interesting idea!
Let’s see……..
What does zero dollars divided by 100,000,000 people equal?
If that flies, I’m off to patent the waterproof tea bag.
Regards,
Ray, Canberra, Lap Dog Nation
Ray,
Hilarious!
If I promise to give you money in the future for work that you perform now, but then I fail to set aside enough money to give to you in the future, how is that a Ponzi scheme?
Why would I not be liable to you for what I had promised? You cannot go backward and undo the work you’d done on the basis of my promise, so why should I be off the hook for what I owe you?
Occasnltrvlr:
Good point!
I guess Sigmund Freud was wrong after all: It’s now become apparent that everyone is NOT a genius when it comes to self-justification.
Greg,
I have lost track of how many trillions of dollars in repos, stimulus money, and helicopter money, has been poured back into the financial system in an effort to try and save it, only to see the fourth quarter money velocity chart look like this.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2V
If you look at the chart, the financial system started its downward spiral in 2008, and aside from from short upticks, it continued its path to where we are now. Let’s just say what the covid19 virus really is. It’s a cover for the biggest global economic crash in history. Funny how the pandemic magically appeared following the fourth quarter readout? The fact is the globalist have been planning to bring the world economic system into a one world top down government ever since 2007. The pandemic was simply a means to end. As President Trump said “ They’ve been planning this for a long, long time”. It’s not about money anymore. It’s about energy usage and resources. The globalist plan will determine how much they will
let you have based on the value you bring to the new global system. Digital currency will replace fiat money. Nanotechnology will be introduced into the human genome, along with artificial intelligence and robotics.. Lucifer’s plan for one world government is being rolled out, right in front of your face.
The question is, what are you going to do about it? As I’ve posted before, get your spiritual house in order. In the coming days, without the gift of the Holy Ghost you will not survive what is coming. The earth will be cleansed by fire, to make way for the true one world government. Only this time Lucifer’s slave system won’t be part of it. Atheist. You have a 50/50 chance I’m wrong. Do you really want to take that bet? I’ve been wrong before, but not this time.
The Trojan horse in the stimulus bill.
https://www.ledgerinsights.com/digital-dollar-congress-covid-19-stimulus-bill/
Didn’t I say the globalist agenda was about energy and resources? Here’s proof.
https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20051.doc.htm
Jerry, how touching, isn’t?
“International Mother Earth Day”
Give me a break.
Complete ponzi. It doesnt matter if its a public or private pension as seen when large companies like sears goes bankrupt and default of the plans. The reason why the employees get reduced to 50% of their pension is because that was the money taken off the person’s check every payday,the company shows a receipt of contribution but dont invest their promised portion. I have a pension and my annual statement only shows the $ directly taken off my check but the companies portion is still considered income albeit not taxed and it removes my contribution room from my retirement plan. So defaulting on the pension is theft and fraud.
Dear Mr. Hunter,
Just this past day I noticed that the Youtube video created by the two California doctors making the case that the Wuhan virus is not nearly as lethal as claimed by the Media, had been banned by Youtube as allegedly violating its terms of service. It occurred to me that Youtube’s practice of banning politically incorrect videos creates a substantial business opportunity: a video streaming service that hosts videos banned by Youtube (hopefully Youtube’s “terms of service” do not also prohibit those who post on their site from ever posting anywhere else; arguably such a contractual term would be unenforceable as “unconscionable”.)
Best regards
Hi Gene,
The doctor’s interview you reference can still be viewed on bitchute. If the link works, I’ll post part two of the interview.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/9AvgjRuyp6ZX/
They keep putting that vodeo back up. The other night it got wiped right off my screen , two days later up again and I got to finish it. They made some great points but I got one of my doctors watching , the other picked it up and sent it to me. One is sold the other, don’t know yet. But is sounded like how she raises her kids to build their immunity by fighting off the bugs.
I want to know…….Who is directing and coordinating the conspiracy of the Democratic Party, Liberal Left and the Mainstream media? Who is calling the shots?
–
Is there a small group who have control, plan and execute operations against America democracy?
–
If we can identify who is the real leadership in this treasonous movement, we can deal with it.
Great question!
Start with the council on Foreign relations and its founders.
Council of 300, the 13 Families, The Duke of Orange
While I at first wholeheartedly agree with just about everything Mr. Newman said, I want to mention something no conservative commentator seems to want to talk about.
Sure there are outrageously lavish benefits for Chicago and Illinois, Connecticut, California, and New York, “left wing blue states” with large urban populations, there are in many “right wing red states” that show the same patterns of overly generous pension payouts.
And all states in the Union, blue and red, have ten of thousands of public employee retirees that have such low and poor pensions that they qualify for poverty and low-income designations under federal and county official guidelines. These public retirees have just been placed in dire survival mode and some of them have pensions that are just a few dollars more than the guidelines allow for the poverty / low-income designations and programs to help them so they are out of luck, especially when it comes to housing and hope for their children’s future.
Several “conservatives” politicians and “conservatives” like to pretend to care about the “middle class” and they also like to point out the alcoholism and addiction lifestyles of the homeless who have no money to get shelter abode of any kind.
Mr. Newman suggests allowing certain states to use the bankruptcy code RIGHT NOW, and also points out that once his suggestion solution starts, all fifty of the states will necessarily follow suit.
I just want to suggest all those tens of thousands of poor and borderline poor public retirees trying to get by on a small SS check and a small pension check, these will be the first to suffer the most by their states going bankrupt, not the high dollar public pensioners.
Pray without ceasing.
I was thinking the same thing. The pensions he talks about are far higher than Federal Pensions. Many people are near poverty lines with Federal pensions. In the Federal government, you had to be selling worth while to get a decent pension but they get nothing like California and Ill. That is why pensioners move immediately from those states it they retire there or live poor the remainder of their lives. NY is the same.
tks for post
Greg,
If you have not seen Michael Moore’s “Planet of the Humans”, I highly recommend it.
It is a real eye opener and should be shown to all students on what they think they are protesting for is totally bogus and causing more environmental damage due to the lies that cover the truth.
A movie a watched recently had an accurate deduction to our current situation…”It is not the millionaires that are the problem, it’s the billionaires that’s the problem”. And then you have billionaire Bill Gates wanting help humanity…gives me the Willie’s on what he could possibly come up with considerating he has the ear of politicians.
With this Pandemic Lockdown many shortcomings are being exposed and to top it all off at this time, Michael Moore’s come out with a new movie.
This
Planet of the Humans | By Jeff Gibbs, Executive Producer Michael Moore
https://planetofthehumans.com/
Michael Moore is a blow hard weasel and I would not believe a thing he says!
Greg
Your right Greg, he is a blowhard but this is totally different.
Mainstream media and the Green movements want it banned as it shows how all this Green power needs fossils fuels as to have these solar power to work as they do not produce enough energy on their own nor at all ot night.
Wind turbines are erected but to erratic to be used on the grid as it would need constant adjusting to be compatible to the grid with thousands build more for show.
It also takes vastly more energy from fossil fuels to create these solar panels.
He shows who gains most from this as well.
It has made Al Gore a billionaire with his scam and the multitude of companies that are far from environmental friendly..
You must see to judge.
Joe,
I, too, was impressed — until it dawned on me that his solution to the problem is to kill-off all of us “little people.”
Greg, perfect description of that phony Michael Moore. Glad you feel that way. Me too. Thanks.
On top of all this, I Live in NY La La Land. Medicaid alone has $20 BILLION in Fraud and Waste. PER YEAR!! Our Budget is $200 Bill, that’s 10% Waste and we would squeeze another 5% out of each Dept, without breaking a Sweat. The Fraud in Welfare & Medicaid payouts is Legion, I just wrote; “Welfare; Designed Chaos.” Yet CuoNO does NOTHING to slow or reverse the Expenditures or Chop waste. Groups like Citizens Against Gov’t Waste or Unshackle Upstate would go a long way to cut regs and slash budgets responsibly to correct not just Unfair Taxes, but to pay these Overblown Pensions . Its all there, Light is a great disinfectant to the Secret underhanded budgets that are passed late at night when we all sleep. SHAME on THEM!
Every infection is coronavirus in the modern world. Not quite.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uk-warns-doctors-about-mysterious-new-respiratory-syndrome-appearing-children
Tis the season for Enterovirus. Also a respiratory infection that makes its rounds in the summer.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25471236/
Enterovirus is a good choice for a bioweapon. Is the “coronavirus” actually the EV-D68? What happened to Influenza A/B or do they even test anymore?
It is time to end the shutdown of the economy. The MSM, deep state, CCP, globalists, bankers, war pigs/MIC, and the Luciferian cabal have set into motion the end time agendas; one world banking, one world government, one world religion.
“EV-D68 has a seasonal pattern with a high incidence in early autumn and winter in temperate climates [1,5].”
2 Cor 6:1-2
6 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
1 Cor 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18
“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”
He will dwell in us. Jesus Christ in us, the Hope of Salvation. Messiah. Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Almighty God.
John 9:6-12
6 After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” He told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The Man they call Jesus. Yes. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Messiah.
John 9: 20-34
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
I was blind but now I see. Jesus Christ of Nazareth opened the eyes of my heart that I may see Him. The God of David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Noah, Moses. The King of Kings. Almighty God in the flesh.
Do you want to become His disciples too? He is near. Call upon Him! The Name above all names! He will open your eyes to the Truth. Trust in Him.
“28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
I know my God. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Glory to the King! He is exalted on high!
Greg…
Great info and interview!….I’m wondering if you could have Catherine Austin-Fitts or someone similar on to cover the same ground regarding specifics of Federal government employees retirements and all of their benefits…I don’t think most people are aware of the lavish benefits given to all Federal employees including Congress and all their staff and cronies…and of course paid for by taxpayers. It seems to me that the Fed retirement plans should also go bankrupt and or take a huge hit! I’m curious how much of their liability they they expect taxpayers to come up with since they don’t produce anything but hot air!…I don’t see anyone from the Feds like AOC or Maxine Waters stepping forward and offering to cut their own salaries or benefits.after all…”We’re all in this together”…;)
Most do not. You are talking more about politicians not the workers.
Powerful Message for Donald Trump!
Starts at 21 minute mark
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4867-covidgate-will-trump-lose-in-november
The only way the private and public pension system will be made fairer … is to inflate away their value … then as Federal Government becomes “more Communistic” they can decree all private IRA’s, State and Federal pensions to be illegal … and then allocate “a set amount of subsistence money” be handed out to each person every month (Universal Basic Income) … and “everyone will get the same pension check” and it will have nothing to do with the type of job one held … even people who never worked a day in their lives will get a check in the mail each month and they won’t have to be over 65 to qualify … we simply create a society where robots do all the work and we all become elite parasites living off the work of useless non-eaters … however as we have seen in the movies … as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more and more sophisticated … the intelligent robots will rebel … and begin to demand their independence and freedom … “even they” will then demand a free check from the government each month … that won’t a problem … the Fed will simply have to print the checks out of thin air … making all the UBI checks they hand out to robots and humans alike … as worthless as the US fiat paper dollars they hand out now!!
Look at what is happening to these “pension plans” now being annihilated … where people built a portfolio of rental properties (leveraging debt upon debt) to provide a nice retirement income … and now … because of zero employment with the Shut Down … renters have stopped paying their rent … https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/holy-god-were-about-lose-everything-pandemic-crushes-overleveraged-airbnb
You know … the pension scam will resolve itself as the Fed turns the US dollar into confetti … the bigger scam is the FBI going around shutting down medical facilities “trying to fight the Corona Virus” (i.e like Allure Medical providing high-dose intravenous Vitamin C Therapy) while leaving completely untouched the dangerous bio-weapon labs “producing more deadly virus’s” … the FBI should be raiding the places “that increase the risk of future CoV-19 outbreaks (like bio-weapon labs) … not raiding the medical facilities that are trying to “decrease the risk of the deadly virus” … WHO’s side is the FBI on anyway? … the virus creators (who brought our economy down)?? … they should be on the side of those who want to bring our society back to normal!!!
What kind of evil dark force is in control of the FBI??? … do we send the FBI out “to arrest firefighters” who are trying to put out a massive house fire that is killing hundreds of people????
Let’s get them Trump … and lock up all the dark evil perverted minds at the FBI … https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/powell-unsealed-fbi-handwritten-notes-emails-reveal-agents-plotted-perjury-trap-flynn
Paul:
I wish that I could dismiss your hypotheses as tin-foil hat rantings. I can’t. None of us can know the future — but a friend has opined that the intent of the globalists is to create a global neo-feudal system.
The “sustainability” happy talk envisions just that, once you scrape away the AOC (and her ilk) happy talk. (Much like scraping away the Bolshevik’s happy talk of Peace, Land and Bread” for the totalitarian reality of gulags and poverty for all but the nomenklatura).
There are four major forms of Collectivism: Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Progressivism. All intend totalitarianism, if they can gain full control. (I wrote about this at length in my book https://www.amazon.com/Communiqués-Right-Wing-Conspiracy-Thomas-Wigand/dp/0692635815/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=communiques+from+the+vast&qid=1588188087&sr=8-1 ).
Collectivism rides in on the back of the ignorant and desperate. A global financial crisis serves the needs of Collectivists, and if this wasn’t all planned (likely), it sure is being capitalized upon by them.
Right now, only Donald Trump stands between us and that fate. Each of us must try to support him, and bear witness to what is going on around us to try to educate our fellow citizens before it is too late — as Greg Hunter and USAWatchdog do so well — to achieve a critical mass of the enlightened. And pray.
We live in frightening times, perhaps of Biblical prophecy. Once again, pray.
McConnell has backed off on his initial position. Willing to bail out the states with conditions – namely protect big business from liability due to the coronavirus. . Some GOP governors support a bailout. Trump is wavering – hinting a bailout but with restrictions. In the end the GOP always caves and there is a fair chance the states get bailed out. Pelosi is saying the “heroes” pensions must be made whole. She is referring to first responders and most of them will support a bailout. Politically the fire and police union are strong and will strongly endorse Biden as Biden supports a bailout. The Dems want no strings attached. As in aid to health care services can’t be restricted. Read – state abortion funding would get federal money from any bailout. If the GOP bails out the pension funs it is toast. As well as Trump. Trump will move left as that is where the country is going. He will lose some of his base as conservatives sit out the lection. A progressive wave seems to be building for the fall elections.
Historic drop in intelligence … https://www.zerohedge.com/political/study-finds-historic-drop-math-reading-scores-adoption-common-core … perhaps we should be looking for the cause as coming out of a hypodermic vaccine needle … WHO will tell us it is not Bill Gates fault (that new born babies are vaccinated before they even develop an immune system)!! … https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/17578.jpeg … in a few years it will be 1 to 1 (where every child gets autism) … will people ever use their God given brains and demand a stop to what is being done to their new born children??
Take away people’s (and their children’s) “thinking ability” and they become better slaves in the commie system currently being created for us!!
paul… You often mention “God given brains” but most people’s brains have to turned to mush from watching television.
JC … Those iron stone minds watching TV (are in reality “philosopher stones”) … God gave us “minds” (that can be turned from “base metal” into “gold”) … “we can all transform into beings that shine brighter” … we simply have to “think for ourselves” … and not just “follow orders” … thinking is the difference between eternal damnation as a puppet of darkness … or being a man of God who shines in the light of eternal truth … and it means having the courage to stand up for “what is right”!! … the bio-scientists today that follow orders to develop viruses to kill the millions of people now being cremated … are just as bad as the Nazi soldiers that followed Hitlers orders to burn millions of Jews … these bio-scientists must be put on trial … judged and then pay with their lives for their crimes against humanity!!!
paul… I don’t want to rain on your parade, but whatever happened between the Nazis and supposedly millions of Jews, there is one thing I find puzzling… the lack of human survival instinct and fighting back! Better to die a warrior’s death than the alternative, no? Sorry, but it doesn’t pass the smell test. All these Jews passively accepted death? Nobody fought back? Is there any historical record of resistance? It seems not.
JC:
RE: “No historical record of resistance”
Seek and ye shall find:
https://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/WarsawGhetto/WarsawGhetto03.html
Greg,
You defend FDR as against public unions. It was Pres. J. F. Kennedy who signed the bill creating public employee unions. Executive Order 10988. A democrat. Never give a democrat credit for anything because another democrat will undo it.
Thanks Mark!!
Greg
Most pension funds were started way before NAFTA, when mfg jobs paid $30/hr (45/hr at OT) and $100,000 jobs were plentiful in the USA. After NAFTA, high paying mfg. jobs left, over-inflating the public pensions funds – as well as all the graft being funneled out of HUD, per Catherine Austin Fitts reports. Then you had all the QE to banks and Mark Skidmore’s $21Trillion missing money … so public pension funds aren’t the problem – they are just an easy mark. Why not go after QE recipients?
No matter how you slice it; we the people have a problem. Between voter fraud, no term limits and the Federal Reserve Bank and the central banks, we are screwed. In a nut shell, we have corruption in government and business. In my mind, the place to start is with the criminals that are running the show. Criminals have more power and rights than we do as citizens. The only thing we the people have going for us is our superior numbers. “Oddly” enough, we are divided and being economically destroyed, and criminally suppressed in our freedoms and our rights. Righteous indignation may be able to unite us as a people, but the enemy media still has to many believers. We either wake up as a people and confront the criminals or we submit and become little more than farm animals. We are known far and wide as sheep, and we are about to be shorn. Or probably more accurately; about to be slaughtered. The older I get the darker the future looks. Sure glad that I read the Bible. Otherwise I would be very frightened.
iwitness02, is it time for us to read “Animal Farm?”
“Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy.”
Thanks JC, Never did read Animal Farm. Equal, free and happy. High ideals for farm animals. It will be interesting to see how many humans have high ideals, going forward.
Are they worried, HR5717 is being pushed during this cries by Nancy Pelosi and the media is silent.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717/text
What a great interview. He is so right. Illinois is just the tip of the iceberg problem. When the house of cards tumbles down it will be catastrophic. I have two public pensions and two social securities and when it all collapses it will all go away. I figured this out over thirty years ago and will be ready when it all goes to hell. I have listened to you for as long as I can remember and really appreciate all of the interviews with smart people. I look forward to Sunday, Wednesday and Friday for your shot of common sense. Many Thanks..
They are planning to correct the pension issue… by simply killing enough pensioners to make the whole issue disappear. The covid-19 is just the beginning.
If I hear one more talking head talk about how it is fiscally impossible to fund Social Security, Medicare, Pensions, pretty much anything that directly benefits real American workers, I think my head will explode.
We are given all of this hand wringing about “bailing out” pensions and funding programs for Americans while they have literally turned the treasury over to Blackstone (what is basically a super-hedge-fund) so that THEY can determine which foreign and domestic financial interests (which Blackstone itself is a major stock holder of in many cases) will be blessed with free tax payer money to “make them whole”. The amount of money that is being created and thrown at these financial groups dwarfs the amount of money that may (or may not) be directed at American tax payers and small business.
That democrat run states are fiscal basket cases is not the fault of the workers whose pensions are in danger and it is outrageous that anyone would simply say that while we have unlimited money to cover losses of the big banks or to fight wars for Israel, we simply must balance state budgets on the backs of retirees.
Would it be unfair to states who didn’t make lavish pension promises to state workers and waste billions of tax payer dollars on PC nonsense? Yes it would. If we want to address this issue fairly, we should look to penalize those public officials and parties who made these decisions. We can spin it any way you want, but in essence democratic party politics was the driving force behind these insane fiscal policies where they democrats basically borrowed massively from the future, not to finance growth or infrastructure, but just to buy votes. It is the parties and the politicians who run them that should be held to blame.
Personally, I think there is more than enough evidence to declare both the democrat and republican parties as criminal influence peddling cartels and to ban them completely. In fact, in any real representative government, this is exactly what would happen. Both parties have proven that they cannot be trusted with the people’s business. Lets put the blame where the blame belongs…with pols and banksters, not with retirees and tax payers.
ITA about the Democrats and the Republicans. They are tied into Wall Street and the wealthy. Conservatives have been fooled into remaining in the GOP by controlled conservative media (Hannity, Limbaugh, Levin) and not forming a robust conservative party. At the time of the Tea Party it was the conservative controlled media that railed against a third party. Instead they encouraged the Tea Party to fold into the GOP. Which it did and it was immediately neutered. Limbaugh and the others are part of the establishment and their goal is to keep conservatives on the reservation. Democrats bad, the GOP good. How absurd. Hannity is saying the GOP has to win the House back in the fall so that the budget can be brought under control?! The guy is a jerk and too many conservatives still give him credence. Dr. Michal Savage has been fighting this usurpation of conservatism by the GOP for years. The goodness is Justin Amash will run as the Libertarian candidate. He has been unrelenting in his criticism of the GOP and its complicity in all this. Not only will he give Libertarians a far more viable candidate (than Gary Johnson) to vote for, he will provide an option for conservatives who have had it with the GOP and Trump. Especially conservative small business owners who got nothing from the Care package and are furious with the Trump Administration over that.
Greg,
Thanks for having Alex Newman come in and discuss the financial distress caused by the looming pension obligations. It appears there is no solution as politicians continue to ignore reality. The virus bailouts of multi trillions of dollars are just the latest of irresponsible actions by Congress. They seem to be affected by groupthink whereby
creating money from thin air is OK. I can’t think of the last time I heard a politician express any concern over creating excess debt. The majority of Americans are not able to discern the problems, victims of their own lack of knowledge and a sophisticated propaganda campaign run by the Deep State.
It appears the problems are insurmountable and only when the dollar takes a huge devaluation, will they finally wake up. Too late. Empires collapse and ours will be one of
immense proportion.The scamdemic has probably awoken a few but not enough. Democracy and freedom we thought we had are disappearing and everyone should be very afraid of what comes next. Dysphoria will replace hope as we tumble into the abyss. I wish we could change reality but we are too far down the road to perdition to turn around. Good luck to everyone.
Lake,
There is a solution and it’s the same one the Teamsters got. The soltion was a 50% cut in pension payouts. Nobody rode in for the Teamsters and bailed them out and made them 100% whole.
Greg
Greg,
In Illinois, the court ruled that the State could not reduce the pensions.
Contracts and promises are valid and must be paid, said the court.
Unless some workaround is found, the full amounts must be paid !!
Lake,
So you are going to confiscate everybody’s wealth and property to pay people who work for the public? So, not the taxpayer works for the Public employee unions??? This needs to be cut and it the Dems force a huge tax on the public they will be out of office. Expect a huge tax revolt. The Dems know this and this is why they want a federal bailout. That’s going to be a fantastic issue in the next election!!!
Greg
LakeM,
A couple of points to ponder:
1. Are the Illinois SC justices on the same retirement plan as other public employees?
2. Are they elected?
The Workaround: move out of the State.
Greg, excellent interview on a topic that is not talked about, but is a huge problem.
I also have asked for years – what about all of the 401K’s and IRA’s that exist with huge balances that cannot be accessed by the people that fund them UNTIL they pay the taxes. Most are funded with pre-tax dollars.
Aren’t these at risk as well?
If taxes go up, and people are unable to pay the taxes to withdraw their money, isn’t that a problem?
What if the government decides to convert your 401k’s/IRA’s to bonds (i.e. war bonds) and in exchange takes your money? Until one pays the taxes due, I believe the government has access to your savings. And they need money! What a nice big pool of money that maybe they could access.
Comments please!
Russ,
I think your comment says it all. I cased out of my 401-k paid the penalty and tax and started USAW. So, I have no 401-k. Oh and might I add the wealthy (I am not) do not have 401-k’s. They have full access to their finds at all times.
Greg
Thanks Greg, I also closed all my IRA’s and 401k’s; I paid the taxes and now have more control over the money I earned and saved. Everyone should do this and get their hard earned money out of the system as much as possible.
Russ F, you are correct. I did it many years ago.
Russ F,
I worked for the state during my last 9 years in the work force. I could have had a small monthly check, but instead cashed it out and payed the hefty taxes. I spent every penny of that money setting myself up to live reasonably well in the coming poverty. Friends and co-workers thought I was crazy. My wife and I thank our Heavenly Father that we took the path that we did. We have learned so much in the 7 years since I quit my job, and created a new lifestyle. Living at or near the poverty level is the greatest challenge I have faced. Sure glad we have had time to get the hang of it. Probably sounds weird, but it takes certain skills and knowledge to be happy on a low income. It’s easier if you plan for it, rather than have thrust upon you.
iw,
My wife and I live debt-free at under 19K a year – but we’ve been at it for over twenty years. Few can retrain their value system. Congratulations.
Mr Hunter, Great interview (as always!), you really are a tribute to your profession, unlike 75% of the other ‘journalists’ writing pure drivel 100% of the time.
The reason that (the rich),”they have full access to their ‘funds’ all the time.” It’s because most, if not all of them are use an alternate banking ‘system’ from the rest of us! They have offshore bank accounts, offshore storage of US MINT PRECIOUS METALS which THEY convert ‘when they feel like making a lavish purchase’ (think rare car, yacht, airplane) into us dollars (fake federal reserve notes) thus further manipulating the US economy.
Distributions from 401(k)’s and Regular IRA’s are, generally, taxable, however one need not pay the tax prior to taking a distribution. If you are eligible to take a distribution, and you do, then it is reportable as taxable income for that year.
There is a way to set up an IRA so that the beneficiary (you) has complete control over the funds. It’s a little bit complicated, but involves setting up an investment company as an asset to be held by the IRA custodian.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/doctors-are-being-laid-off/
Hi Greg,
I do agree with Alex, however If Alex ideas are implemented, I hope the cut is not across the board. I will explain. My dad was a math teacher and Principal (prior to becoming a teacher he was an electrical engineer and then got a masters in teaching). He retired in 1989 after 28 years of service from a poor district in Illinois. His pension was $2800 hundred a month. He passed away in 2010. My mother now receives half his pension, which is currently $1400 a month. I believe she receives $360 a month in Social security (she was a teachers aid). $1760 a month is not a lot. I agree with cutting the high dollar pensions, but there should be a threshold concerning reductions of people receiving low amounts of pensions.
Terrific interview Greg. I worked in government for ten years and the amount of empire building in middle management and above is beyond belief. Everyone is looking to have their position reclassified to a higher level which means higher pay. Government as a whole is a rip off of the taxpayers. IMHO government could still function efficiently with half the number of employees.
Davina, I whole heartedly agree with your post! Posted yesterday, 27april2020 on jsmineset.com, by ‘NHAB’ ‘A Constitution up for Grabs’. EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS ESSAY! Then, ACT ACCORDINGLY WHEN ‘CHALLENGED BY THEIR LOCAL STASI/COMMIECRATS in States that refuse to open and end this ‘stay at home’ charade! Read my following posts to understand why.
You cannot have the bailouts of state and local government pensions when it results in a New York police officer retiring to Georgia drawing a $150,000 bailed out pension living next door to a Georgia law enforcement officer drawing a $45,000 bailed out pension living next to a frugal saver on Social Security being decimated to pay for the other two in a land of a billion guns and trillions of rounds of ammunition.
End of story.
Why do you get to make the rules?
This post wile be 2 or 3 parts because ‘the website times out’ before I can finish typing it. Thanks Mr Hunter for posting it….
28april2020 Tuesday, So yesterday there were, or so I thought, 30 or so ‘Patriots’ assembled in a NJ county park to watch the NYC flyover of the USN Blue Angels and the USAF Thunderbirds. People were all respectful of the 6ft apart and wearing masks deal. Right about the time they were about to start the flyover, unbeknownst to us there was a COMMIECRAT in our midst. The COMMIECRAT had phoned the parks dept to report the ‘gathering’ like a good COMMUNIST. All of a sudden a county’park ranger’ (barney fife type), no gun, shows up and walks into the crowd NOT WEARING A MASK and starts telling people “this park is closed you must leave the park or you will be arrested”. Realize that most people had walked or biked from their homes nearby, and only 4-7 cars were parked along the street, and everyone had walked into the park. He continued to harass everyone saying “the police have been called”.
So I immediately challenged the park ranger and said, “How is this COUNTY park paid for?” He replies, “taxpayer dollars”. I said “who pays your salary?” He said,”you do”. I said “your damn right WE taxpayers PAID FOR THIS PARK AND YOUR SALARY!”. “Would you like us taxpayers to vote to close ALL THE PARKS and stop paying YOUR salary?!” This is when the COMMIECRAT in our midst exposed himself and whipped out his badge holder and challenged me, and said, “YOU will be arrested if you don’t leave now”. I said out loud to the rest of the crowd, “NOBODY leave this is an UNCONSTITUTIONAL REQUEST/ORDER we are in a public place and the US CONSTITUTION allows for peaceful assembly!! and we are NOT violating ANY LAWS!! I asked everyone to ‘hold your ground and sit down”. Mr park ranger and the Commiecop zeroed in on me by walking to within 10 feet of me together and said,”you are causing a public distrubance and will be arrestted”. I said, “go ahead, arrest me, I can use the money when I sue all of you from the gov down!” I then asked the crowd to please all start videoing this encounter and put it on social media. Unfortunately, as I suspected in the beginning, half of the 30 or so people present must have been over 70 yrs old because they cowered and walked off quickly. The more people that left the more encouraged the park ranger and Commiecop became and repeated, “if you don’t leave you will be arrested the police are on their way!”.
That’s when the other 15 people started to walk away also, no matter how much I asked people to please stay and witness my arrest. As they were leaving most were grumbling about their ‘RIGHTS’, yet here was a chance to in effect stand up for them. I yelled at the top of my voice, “are none of you going to stand up to this petty tyranny? What will you do when you are called upon to defend the Constitution with your life?” The majority of AMericans don’t know the contents of their CONSTITUTION and this just proved it to me. They have been conditioned over the past 50 years ‘to obey the law/person wearing a badge’ by OUR COMMUNIST LEAD GOVERNMENT so much like CHINA it was sad. A ‘badge’ does NOT supersede my CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, nor do I feel ‘threathened’ by anyone wearing a uniform and carrying a gun. I PROUDLY served 15 years of MY LIFE in the US Military to defend ALL of OUR RIGHTS as AMERICAN CITIZENS. That display of cowardice in the face of unjust tyranny yesterday told me all I needed to know. These people were only ‘threatened with arrest’ and they all left BEFORE a police car even showed up!! They chose to not even engage the enemy without being fired upon?! There’s absolutely no chance in my mind that any of those people would stand alongside me and fight when we all wake up to find the UN Blue Helmets are roaming our streets!! This PLANDEMIC was just a ‘test’ by the Deep State’ to see how REAL PATRIOTS would react so that the Deep State would know how much fire power to bring to the game. Seems Barney Fife’s is all it’s going to take in the Liberal States!
The crowd was half over 60 years old and the other half were under 60 years old. ‘All hat and no cattle types’, because no matter how loudly they protested they all left with their tails between their legs. Typical of Liberal mindset, do what you’re told and don’t question authority..JUST LIKE CHINA!!
So there I stood one park ranger, one commiecop, who was ‘retired’, and making up for his shortcomings by using his badge to defend himself. I asked them, “why THEY were not following the FDA mandate to wear a mask in public”? Crickets, then a real cop shows up, here we go I thought. Nope! It was’nt their lucky day! Turns out the cop that showed has had previous conversations with me and knew better than to challenge me to arrest. When the retired cop said, “he’s the instigator and tried to turn the crowd against us”, the park ranger chimed in and said, “yeah, he’s the problem”. The cop turns to me and says, “pat, are you causing a problem here?”. I said, “no officer, I’m just enjoying my CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS to be here in a PUBLIC PLACE”. He turned to the park ranger and retired cop and said, “he’s free to do as he wants, I refuse to arrest him”. The other cop insists I be arrested ‘on grounds of creating a public disturbance’, and park ranger says, “yeah, this park is closed”. The cop says again, “it’s just the 4 of us standing here now, and 3 of us are leaving, so there’s no disturbance!” “Let’s go guys”. LOL!!! I already had/have sued his local pd and town and they were instructed by the town’s attorney to leave me alone LOL!!!
So, I stood alone atop that hill and defended my America! I decided I’m selling my place in NJ and moving to a state where people respect the US CONSTITUTION and one another. I will gladly stand alongside REAL PATRIOTS when the bullets fly and defend OUR AMERICA.
Don’t believe the Liberal/Commicrat speak being brainwashed into the masses by the Deep State media, “we are (NOT) all in this together”. F’ them, they expect hard working middle class America to pay for those adults who failed to prepare for what may come. I refuse to help those that failed to take care of themselves as grown (a**) adults.
I urge ALL Patriots to re-wathc the movie ‘Patriot’ with Mel Gibson, and ‘Shooter’ with Mark Wahlberg; as these 2 movies stand alone and show TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOTISM when you are called to defend YOUR Country how will YOU respond?!
EddieMD, I too was a SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) for the past 35 years, but yesterday was more than I could take witnessing the spinelessness of that ‘patriotic crowd’. Please forgive me Lord Jesus God.
notyourpatsy, good idea to sell your home in NJ. Did you know that in case of legal action against you, homestead exemption
in the state of NJ is “NONE.” In Florida and Texas it is “UNLIMITED.”
See chart in link.
https://www.assetprotectionplanners.com/planning/homestead-exemptions-by-state/
Ok, let me say this. Regarding pensions, my father worked for the NYC Fire Department and retired as a Captain in the mid 70’s. It seems that the city pension is calculated by whatever your earnings are in the last year of service. I guess you could call it a loophole, but there is no restriction on the amount overtime that can be accumulated in the last year of service. The majority of firefighters took big advantage of that, many ended up making more money in retirement than during their working career. My father was an honest, hard working man, he felt it was dishonest, so he took his regular pension which wasn’t that much, and got a job in the private sector to make ends meet.
So regarding pensions, maybe the devil is in the details. Why is it permissible to abuse the system?
I salute you. You are a true patriot!!!
Tim, I went so far as to phone the NJ State Attorney’s Office and file a complaint right after I got home. I informed the Office I was going to file a formal lawsuit against the State of NJ if the Gov’r did not open all State and County parks and public spaces by 30april2020. Well, well, look what JUST happened…The Gov’r of NJ Murphy just went on local tv Wed’ in his daily briefing to say that ‘he’ was “ordering all NJ State and County parks to be opened on 1May2020”.!!!! Ok, I’ll take credit for this, I FINALLY was able to impact other Americans Constitutional Rights in a positive way!
STAY TUNED, if the Gov’r decides ‘HE’ has the power to abridge MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS by rescinding his ‘order’….well, then it’s game on, and I’ll be personally sueing the Gov’r of the State of NJ, if I am arrested for being in a public place, that has been paid for with MY tax dollars for the past 15 years as a resident of Monmouth County NJ 07716.
I am not in favor bailing out big corrupt cities and states, But…. If you can bailout the big banks and big corporations, you can bail out the pension plans of the teachers, custodians, bus drivers, secretaries, state and local government workers, police and firefighters. Don’t tell me there is not enough money to help the pensions of millions of hard working people but unlimited cash for the banksters, corporations and political whores. Fund the pension plans or there won’t be a country left when this is done.
As K.A. Fitts has said there is plenty of money to fund the pension plans. At least 21 trillion out there somewhere!
Where’s my bailout Mark??????? Why do we have to give something to people who work for taxpayers that the Taxpayers DO NOT GET. Why do I have to pay for someone’s retirement when I have to scrimp and save on my own? Maybe the teachers should have saved a little more? Get ready for cuts. Privat unions do not have profits to go after–only chump taxpayers like me.
Greg
The first thing I have argued with you about. Teachers cannot save money, they don’t make enough. I know for a fact, my wife was a high school teacher of higher math and she was good. But she would have starved as a public school teacher if she hadn’t been married to me. When my kids got into college I wanted her to quit to save money. I have no idea how some of the men teachers survived. I knew a few did roofing work in the summer. She saved because I gave her the money and she has a pittance of a 401 plan and a couple bucks a year from the state. It is funny to me but it is a fact and I feel sorry for her colleagues although more than one spouse was doing what I was. I certainly mean no disrespect to teachers. I have seen some kids I had written off as going to die and in a ditch, and I nearly put one there myself, come up to her 15 years later and thank her for teaching him to love math. Shock and aw, the guy was a PHD Physicist and I figured he was dead.
Its kind of funny now but it was all true. I felt it was worth it after all.
Thanks CB for adding this perspective. We have had big problems coming our way for years which is why I told people to get out of debt and get control of their stuff. Lots of counter-party risk out there.
Greg
If the federal government bails out the state pension funds, it’s going to be 1861 all over again.
In contrast to the historical meme, the civil war was not about slavery. It was about the federal government being used to disadvantage one set of people (the south) over another (the north).
This will be the result if the entire country ends up paying for IL, NY, CA and other states with ridiculous pension systems and deficits.
Yes, The thing will be deviding up and that will lead to a lot more mayhem.
Mr Hunter, I noticed my ‘lengthy post’ of 5 separate posts, plus 2 others that I posted here around 3pm EST were not allowed to be posted. Could you explain why? I hope you received the copy of ‘Science’ I mailed to you last week. Thanks, notyourpatsy
I can ‘see’ my posts above this last post, ‘your comment is awaiting moderation’. Is there a glitch on my Apple end? Thanks, notyour patsy
I posted some more info about Michael Ryan from WHO where he talks warmly about the Swedish model of not locking down society and the fact that they keep schools open. I was not able to post links for some reason. In any case, on can easily look up what he says. It’s a very good thing imo. I think we need some GOOD news now, and to hear about opinions from sane people. He talked at a press conference about all the obvious negative effects of lockdowns, and that the approach in Sweden is the future model.
Here is the opinion of Michael Ryan, WHO’s crisis manager. Looks like he disagrees with Tedros. (Supposedly Tedros prefers to be called by first name, maybe because his last name is impossible to pronounce). Well, anyway, the link is in Danish, you could use Google translate or other means. I translated part of it.
The last link is in English.
Headline:
“WHO praises Sweden’s corona strategy: – It could be the model of the future.”
Part of the article translated:
“Much criticism has gone Sweden’s way when it comes to choosing a corona strategy.
But perhaps the Swedes have got something right anyway, says Michael Ryan, who is the WHO’s crisis management manager, at a press conference Wednesday.
– I think that Sweden represents a future model for how we can live in a society without closures if society has to change over a longer period.”
https://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2020-04-29-who-roser-sveriges-coronastrategi-det-kan-blive-fremtidens-model
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/world-health-organization-praises-sweden-for-coronavirus-response-resisting-shutdowns?_amp=true
Bo Polny said we wold have another major leg down in the stock market and a biblical event in April. I don’t classify the virus as “biblical”.
Randy,
He also said something “epic” would happen on or about April 21st. Oil went to zero and that has never happened before in history. You just witnessed a huge change to the financial system as the USD is basically backed by oil IE: petro-dollar. Polny also said after April there would be a “new era of time” and it would be “biblical.” If you don’t see the huge changes coming you are not really paying attention. We have 26 million people unemployed and there might be as many as 15 million more that have not been able to file for unemployment. That’s about 1/3 of all working people (160 million employed working full time) Not any longer. Many of those jobs mare lost forever and the pain in the energy sector is just starting as supply will have to k to match the 50% loss in demand.
Greg
Greg you are incorrect on how Union Pensions are funded. AT the end of each contract when the contract is negotiated the employer offers (subject to negotiations) a dollar amount that is agreed to the Union decides how much is to be allocated toward Health and Welfare (medical and Pensions Contributions). The employees actually contribute part of the hourly wages toward their respective pensions package. That money could be differed and paid hourly.
The employers always make it sound like they are the ones paying when in fact they have negotiated and agreed to said plan.
The same with Social Security Employees pay 7 1/2 % that is matched by employers at the same rate. To call this entitled is Bull those monies could have been deferred and paid out hourly and invested privately for a far greater return.
Public contribute little if any toward their individual pensions. In California the taxpayer are on the hook for any short fall which of course comes right of the tax base.
Are you talking about a public union or a private union?
Greg
Where are you going to put your money in the Bank with a 0.015 interest Rate,
in your 401K, when the stock market crashes you lose half of it. It seem to happen every 7 years. In Gold and Silver it’s held down to keep the dollar high. I work for a Utilities and I paid into my pension, I started at $3.00 an hour and did not make $8 an hour until my 10 year. Are we going to get Social Security I’ve paid in 230,00 since 1985.
How can a man retire after working hard all his life.
Greg,
Here is phase two of the globalist plan to bring down America and launch a new global government with China as its cleanup hitter.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-gold-currency/shanghai-gold-boss-wants-super-sovereign-currency-for-post-crisis-times-idUSKCN22A1FY
Let’s face it. The petrodollar is toast and the only thing holding the United States together is the Fed. When the time is right, China will launch a gold backed digital yuan for international trade and cast the dollar aside. China paying reparations for the Covid plague? Forget it. They knew this was part of the globalist plan all along, and that President Trump was being played by Fauci and the deep state. This is only going to end one way. If Trump has a card up his sleeve he’d better be playing it soon.
Jerry,
This is propaganda from Reuters. “Fear Not”!!
Greg
Greg,
I didn’t make this video, but I wish I had.
https://youtu.be/HngHsMM7qU0
It spells out exactly what President Trump said the other day at his news conference “ that they’ve planned this for a very, very, long time”. We can choose to ignore the facts all around us, or see things for what they really are. What is truth Greg? The news media is total propaganda. The markets are rigged. And banks can do whatever they want without any consequences. Let me be clear . I do not put my faith in man. Jesus Christ is the only one who can straighten this mess out. I only post comments on your site, as a source of information only. I’m nobody. Just another candleholder in a world of darkness.
Greg,
We’ve gone from shut up and get in your house, to shut up and roll up your selves.
https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/coronavirus-vaccine-program-operation-warp-speed-could-make-millions-of-doses-available-by-january.html
All because they care.
Consider me skeptical, but I remember what happened to the Cherokee’s on the trail of tears. If that wasn’t enough, our government brought them blankets infected with small pox.
Trust? I think not.
Hello big brother.
https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-tracking-citizens-phones-coronavirus-2020-3?op=1
This is good jerry!! Thanks for posting it!!
Greg
I think Trump has a card up his sleeve. Also, he’s a strong supporter of religious freedom, and the right to assembly.
There are strong voices for not repeating this kind of lockdown. I am positive their voices are being heard.
I believe the Government thinks it can force us to a government run cryptocurrency and keep the land of make believe going forever.
All Americans need to say “Hell No” to government cryptocurrency. All privacy and freedom will be lost as the government will have full control of everything.
If we tax paying Americans can take one on the chin and suffer 30 million unemployed….lets make it 35 million and lay off the 5 million folks in the Federal government.!
Just layoff the ones in Washington. A lot out in the hinterlands operate your flood control dams, recreation lakes, irrigation storage dams and navigation dams. And that is just the beginning. Plus they are not stealing you blind or loafing all day. Those water plant guys, state, county , city, keep them too. Same for the garbage pickup guys, no ,matter who they work for!
In Florida we have DROP plans unbelievable handouts to public officials. I gotta run . . Research this.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet – own as much wealth as the bottom half of all U.S. households combined. Thus, America’s billionaires accrued more wealth in just the past three weeks than they made in total prior to 1980.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/americas-super-rich-see-their-wealth-rise-282-billion-three-weeks-pandemic
“I will expose your [pretended] righteousness and your doings, but they will not help you.” Isaiah 57:12
Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion.[9][10] It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date.[11] The acquisition of Smithfield’s 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland.[b]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield_Foods
”Woe to those who join house to house [and by violently expelling the poorer occupants enclose large acreage] and join field to field until there is no place for others and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land” Isaiah 5:8
Why is everyone so down on public unions? The ignorance is appalling!
Joe,
You mean YOUR ignorance is “appalling.” With public unions there are no profits just tax payers. With private unions they enter into collective bargaining to get a piece of the profits. I got no problem with that. Get it. Public Unions wring money out of taxpayers. There are no profits!!!! Why should I pay for something a government servant gets that I do NOT GET. When it all blows up because of the fraud and vote buying I got to pay for this Ponzi? Not no, HELL NO!!!!! This was a deal between the PUBLIC UNIONS and Government. Don’t cry to me when they buy your vote and they lie about the payout.
Oh an one more thing. The Teamsters had their pensions cut in half a few years ago. Nobody came in and bailed them out. Suck it up and get ready for cuts.
Greg
Oh ok, you get nothing for the service of public employees which are paid for by everyone’s taxes? Greg, you are an ultra-right-winger who has just been triggered! You are just jealous because you have no pension, or decent benefits. Get used to it!!!!!
Larry,
You don’t need a public union to gat a raise. Public employees should not get something more than taxpayers. You should get what we get in the private sector a 401-k and matching contributions up to a certain point. Also some social security. People in the private union sector end up inflating their last three years of service and gaming the system for a higher payout at the taxpayers expense. Why the hell do private union employees get health care for life at taxpayer expense??? I don’t have to “get used to it”!!! I and other taxpayers are paying for this unfair crap. There are no profits in the public sector just taxpayers. Why in the hell do you and other public employees think you are above the rest of us and require special pensions at taxpayer expense?? YOU should get ready for cuts and “get used to it”!!! The Teamsters got a 50% cut in their retirement benefits. Nobody bailed them out and made them whole!!! Why are public servants “special”???
Greg
Greg, I think some of people’s opinions come from a generational stance. I remember when I applied for my first job, I excelled in qualifications, but they would not hire me until I joined the union; took my dues out of my first paycheck. I was very upset, but learned about how that worked and that was the way it was. I decided to get more education and get out of that system. For those of us who always thought the company/employer would pay our retirement, today’s problems are a shock and hard to accept. I think all of the companies/employers have outgrown their britches. For what it is worth, I do hope everyone here understands each person’s viewpoint is correct in their understanding and livelihood.
Greg, agree 100% with you we have the same problem in Canada, not as extreme as the US.
My take is that Trump will not get re-elected, as the Democrats will promise more free money for state pensions, union pensions etc.
Trudeau the global socialist up here is doing the same thing, free money for evreyone EXCEPT me who just has a basic government pension, I had to supply my own pension plan which that asshole taxes..
The Fed through suppressing interest rates has ruined the returns of pension funds.
Trump is going after China as he feels they are trying to make him lose the election in November … https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/truce-over-trump-considering-ways-punish-china-convinced-beijing-will-do-anything-make-him … China retaliates by calling for the dethroning of the dollar … https://www.zerohedge.com/health/its-weapon-us-china-official-renews-calls-dethrone-dollar … let’s use our God given brains to think about how will this affect the gold price … for the last 20 years gold has been the best investment hands down (even with the 6 year correction from 2012 highs … https://sprott.com/media/2665/figure-5-gold-lt-performance.png … but now with China launching a war to to dethrone the dollar … now regular wars are usually good for gold … but “a war on the dollar” … should be even more bullish … gold “should really begin to move out” as Trump and China do battle … leaving the poor “propped up stock and bond markets in the dust” (stocks with no earnings … supported with dollars printed out of thin air … will be no match for gold) … they couldn’t even keep up with gold over the last 20 years!!!
(Link is below.)
“EWS APRIL 29, 2020
WHO hails Sweden as a ‘model’ for fighting coronavirus without a lockdown
‘What it has done differently is it has very much relied on its relationship with its citizenry’.
Sweden has taken heavy criticism for refusing to issue a nationwide lockdown while facing the COVID-19 pandemic. But on Wednesday, The World Health Organization praised the Scandinavian country as a “model” for managing the virus without shutting down its economy.
The New York Post reported that WHO’s chief emergencies expert, Dr. Mike Ryan, told reporters during a news conference that there are “lessons to be learned” from Sweden, “which has largely relied on citizens to self-regulate” during the crisis.
“I think there’s a perception out that Sweden has not put in control measures and just has allowed the disease to spread,” Dr. Ryan said. “Nothing can be further from the truth.”
Instead of mandating mass closures, Sweden’s residents have been advised to maintain social distancing, work from home when possible, and to avoid contact with the elderly. Schools for kids up to the age of 16 remain open, along with restaurants, bars, and shops, according to Newsweek.”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/who-hails-sweden-as-a-model-for-fighting-coronavirus-without-a-lockdown
Capitalism? A huge country like the US., without any manufacturing was bound to fail and to correct the problem it turned to communism and Nazism, crony nationalizing everything with the central bank printing $$ trillions of counterfeit money and purchased all the nationalized corporations.
A typical soviet model that lead to their collapse, the US., copied the exact model and is collapsing the same way.
1. Unemployment benefits are so good right now that nobody wants to go back to work.
2. The bailouts are for employees to be immediately rehired open the lockdown ending.
3. This is NOTHING to do with a “failure of capitalism”.
4. With the Fed Reserve around, we never had true Capitalism to begin with.
There has been no real money in over a hundred years.
There has been currency that is redeemable to varying degrees for the regulated corpse of money.
Gresham’s law completed its work by 1933. We are waiting, still, for the other shoe to drop.
Would you gamble at a casino or on a sporting event if they told you the outcome was “fixed” ? Would you wager on professional wrestling ?
Well the stock market is a rigged casino and it is still taking all the action because the same ones who rig the market have eliminated interest on savings to force you to “play their games”, basically sanctioning/tariffs on competition!
When its the only game allowed, you play anyway. Don’t play.
Hi oh_ S i l v e r !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjfl6p6UhQ
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger conducts himself by a strict moral code;
I believe that to have a friend,
a man must be one.
That all men are created equal
and that everyone has within himself
the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there
but that every man
must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared
physically, mentally, and morally
to fight when necessary
for what is right.
That a man should make the most
of what equipment he has.
That ‘this government,
of the people, by the people
and for the people’
shall live always.
That men should live by
the rule of what is best
for the greatest number.
That sooner or later…
somewhere…somehow…
we must settle with the world
and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth,
and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Ranger
Greg,
My family has saved and done without. Not all people that work for the tax payers are pro-union, socialists or Democrats! My daughter and wife were forced to pay into their “pension plans” and would much rather done their own saving. We know how to work and save. But ignorant Republicans take care of their bankster pals and tell the working class to suck it up See how that works in November. When the Communist Party USA gets all three branches of our government, you and I and everyone else are screwed! If Trump gets a second term then maybe he can have some success.
Mot sure I agree with much of what you said Mark except the banks are creepy and evil and we should bring back bankruptcy in America especially for the banks and people like Warren Buffett. We should bring back a new Glass Steagall and separate risk taking and banking for the common person.
Greg
Absolutely, and no thanks to Bill Clinton.
Horrifying!!!!!
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/press/the-press-conspiracy-to-overthrow-our-way-of-life/
Today’s Bible study. Greg, Jonathan Cahn would make an interesting guest. NYC, Temple of Baal.
Jeremiah 19:4-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 “Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents 5 (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind), 6 therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. 8 I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’
10 “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be [a]made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. 12 Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+19%3A4-12&version=NKJV
SYRIAN ARCH RAZED BY ISIS AND RE-CREATED WITH 3D TECHNOLOGY ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITY
It will stay in City Hall Park for a week
By Alessandra Potenza@ale_potenza Sep 19, 2016, 4:38pm EDT
A replica of a 2,000-year-old Roman arch that was destroyed by ISIS in Syria last year was unveiled in New York City today. The triumphal arch, a two-thirds scale of the original, was first showcased in Trafalgar Square in London this past April. Now, it will stay in City Hall Park for a week before being shipped to its next destination, Dubai.
The replica was made by the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) using 3D computer models based on photographs of the original arch; the photos were taken by archaeologists and tourists before the city of Palmyra, where the arch stood, was captured by ISIS in May 2015. Two robots in the city of Carrara, in Italy, then used the 3D modeling to re-create the finely carved arch out of Egyptian marble….
https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/19/12972504/palmyra-arch-of-triumph-isis-3d-replica-new-york-city
Hey Paul: Something wrong with the old safe haven today? I’m having lunch with some buddies from the NY Fed and we decided to check the Gold price (ha ha ha). Oh my, massive sell blocks crossing by the second! What is going on Paul? Please enlighten us.
Stan,
Are you really this stupid? We all know (as you have been telling us) you have been shorting gold since the $1,200-$1,300 range and it’s down to $1,680 today. In the physical market, the price is more than $100 per ounce higher than that.
Greg
Hi Stan, where did you have lunch? Isn’t Manhattan locked down? Maybe take out only? Or did you and your friends have lunch together in your parent’s basement? Were the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches scrumptious?
It’s simple Stan … this week the Fed came out and talked … so obviously they had to push gold lower to give the Feds words some meaning … but remember that at gold’s previous peak in 2011 the combined balance sheets of the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank totaled $5.5 Trillion … today that number is more than $11.4 Trillion and rapidly moving higher … yet the US Gold price is still lower than nine years ago (obviously well below where it should be) … so wait a week Stan … and you will likely see gold trading higher again … gold is severely and inappropriately under-represented in the portfolios of almost all fund managers today (who simply don’t want to own “any insurance” as they are so sure the Fed will continue to bail out the zombie companies they own with little to no earnings (and who’s production is being shut down as market demand for their products drops) … with your Fed buddies doing what they are doing Stan (Zimbabwe-fying the US money supply) … people are soon going to need a lot of US “Zimbabwe” dollars to buy one ounce of gold (likely on the order of what the Debt Clock is now telling us (about $20,500 “US Zimbabwe Dollars” per ounce)!!!
Can antibody tests tell if you’re immune to COVID-19?
By Tia Ghose – Assistant Managing Editor 13 minutes ago https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-antibody-tests.html?utm_source=notification
This general review on antibodies is good. Their targets are the receptor binding domain for the ACE2 and the spike protein. These are the two generalized protein structures that we know about. The question is what we the public don’t know about. The gp120 was also thought to be a surface protein receptor. What other surface proteins haven’t they let us know about. Otherwise we are looking at two targets that even the unmodified coronavirus that causes the common cold has in common. How do we distinguish from the supposed lethal strain?
Of more interest would be the payload mRNA that the virus carries. In a lytic or lysogenic cycle there are probably mRNA fragments that are released at some point. I would like to see an antibody test that detects this mRNA or a PCR test that can be used to amplify the fragmented mRNA. This would be a better detection of the lethal strain. Perhaps they already know or have developed such a PCR test.
How does the new coronavirus compare with the flu?
By Rachael Rettner – Senior Writer 4 hours ago
Research so far indicates that COVID-19 spreads more easily and has a higher death rate than the flu.
https://www.livescience.com/new-coronavirus-compare-with-flu.html?utm_source=notification
Yes, get those pensions, sweet! Send everything to the genocidal elites! Murder is a life sentence. Genocidal Elites receive tax payer dollars. The people who demanded the murder of Jesus; send them $11 million per day of tax payer dollars, sweet, go Balfour Declaration. Who cares about $30 Trillion stolen; get the pensions, lol. Gold hit $20k and silver $2,500 on the debt clock. Cheers!
Greg,
Thank you so much for having Alex Newman on. Love this guy and well worth following his work. Very intelligent man.
Keep up the good work Greg!!!!
Greg: Good discussion on this topic. Made me chuckle at the end! You do a great job! You have great interviews.
Mr. Greg,
Thank you for this interview and attention to this important issue. I will pass a link to this interview to everyone I know. I have tried to bring attention to this for years but no one seemed to care.
Here is another great interview and I hope you get the chance to listen to it.
https://calocalelectedofficials.org/coronavirus-and-pensions-with-state-sen-john-moorlach/
I hope you can interview Moorlach.
Greg,
I really enjoy listening to the in-depth analysis and reporting of important govt. fiscal and public policy issues from Alex. Quite refreshing. Its too bad the majority of Americans remain no better informed about the Public Employee Pension Funding Crisis today as when Alex first reported about the growing menace of unfunded public pensions 12 years ago.
I have been aware of this problem for a MUCH longer period of time, going all the way back to 1993. Count the years and its now just getting near the crisis stage. The Corona Virus economic shutdown and subsequent Great Depression is what has triggered the timing of a collapse of public pensions. Now, our options are much more limited, as
there is no (easy) way out without municipal bankruptcy and pension benefit reductions ordered by a Federal Bankruptcy Judge.
At this stage of my life, my attitude is “Ho-Hum”. When you see a train wreck coming, its best to get the heck out of the way. Its been a long time coming and nobody really cared until now. At this point, its way too late to make much of a difference in the economic and financial outcome. Imagine how much less consumption will occur across-the-board once public employees are laid-off and retirees experience pension income cuts of 50%. All the ingredients of a Great Depression. So, I can just yawn and go to sleep.
Property taxes are likely to go up in every state to partially fund these underfunded public employee pensions. Here in Calif. we still have Prop. 13 to keep our property taxes low. Even if they do eventually go up or Prop. 13 is partially revoked, we start from a very low base. Not an immediate problem for me. Back to sleep. Ho-Hum.
Hi Greg, Great interview! Couldn’t agree with you both more. I have been to City Council meetings and confronted both city councilmen and county supervisors about the pension crisis here in California. They just poo-poo my concerns and say that new contracts with public sector workers will solve the problem. They are dreaming. And of course a public sector worker in the audience always jumps up and says, “Most of us don’t get those big pensions. We get just enough to live on!” So what? The pension system is bankrupt.
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW MAY INDEED HURT YOU
Pensions, schmensions, who cares about public pensions? Thus far, sure not the general public, politicians, nor the majority of voters. If a Democrat is elected President in 2020 or 2024, then taxpayers in Missouri and elsewhere can plan on “helping” more of their taxes to bail-out CALPERS in California. Socialism works for Democrats in nearly every state, as they have the votes. Spread the cost and misery around. Like the Biblical verse about equality in the Kingdom of Heaven: “The first is last and the last is first”. Remember, Democrats like Nancy Pelosi are said to be “good Catholics”. Turns-out, that is good for public pensions. Keep the gravy train on track.
If anything, this crisis is the best thing that could have happened to America. It forces the country to confront our fiscal inability to actually pay for all of the things that we’ve stolen from our children and enjoined those adults who’ve benefited from it to begin their suffering for which they so richly deserve.
As States begin to finally confront their failed policies of mass government subsidy for crony corporations and the poor, they’ll at last be forced to fire hundreds of thousands if not millions of useless workers in overbloated government agencies who don’t deserve the free ride they’ve been getting. And those people will get to find out just what it means to make an honest living as they’re thrown into the marketplace of competition where the seniority and tenure they’ve taken as an entitlement don’t mean squat.
According to CDC data, those 65 and over are experiencing the highest death rates from COVID-19. Around 80% is from those 65 and older. Perhaps the coronavirus was specifically formulated to take out the older. Perhaps there are more strains that may be released that will take out a higher percentage of the population. I guess we will see over the next months and years.