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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: The Great American Retirement Scam: Why The Wealthiest CEO's In America Want To Take Away Your Social Security The Great American Retirement Scam: Why The Wealthiest CEO's In America Want To Take Away Your Social Security 53 comments, 43 called-out + Comment now English: Scanned image of author's US Social S... English: Scanned image of author's US Social Security card. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) As the fiscal cliff debate takes center stage in the national conversation, a well-financed lobbying blitz is underway—one that bills itself as a “non-partisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path.” Who are these dedicated, do-gooders who want nothing more in life than to save us from plunging over the cliff while solving our national debt problems and return prosperity to all Americans? Meet the “Fix The Debt” gang—a collection of more than 80 of the nation’s most powerful and wealthy CEO’s who have generously committed their time, money and lobbying efforts to contribute a solution to the nation’s debt crisis in the effort to avoid an economic disaster. And what do these great Americans have in mind as the recipe to cure our national ills? The Fiscal Cliff Explained Rick Ungar Rick Ungar Contributor How Obama Won: The Future Of Politics Steve Denning Steve Denning Contributor Has The USA Recovery Been Nothing Short Of Extraordinary? Rick Ungar Rick Ungar Contributor A plan that leaves it to the poor and middle-class to pay off our burgeoning debt through the scaling back of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Certainly, there is nothing particularly new about the notion of the 1 percent looking to entitlements as the solution to debt, but these clever executives have added a few wrinkles to the plan that are well worth noticing as these corporate leaders are not simply content to simply lay the debt on the shoulders of those least able to bear it—they intend to make billions in the process. Their proposal comes complete with ideas ranging from granting themselves some sweet tax breaks via a change in the tax laws that would allow their companies to return overseas profits to the US tax free—instantly dropping some $134 billion to their companies’ collective bottom line—to a well buried benefit that will earn them billions as a direct result of modifying Social Security to delay benefits to the millions who will suffer. And all of this—they would have us believe—is in the interest of serving their country. Nice. So, how does this clever little plan work? Prepare to be amazed. It’s no accident that these 80 individuals are paid the big bucks for running our largest corporations. When it comes to sticking it to the other guy in order to make big money for their side of the bargaining table, these people clearly have no equals. First, a little background to set the stage— While only 41 of the companies led by these CEOs even have a retirement plan for their employees (leaving their workers heavily reliant on their Social Security benefits), only 2 of the companies represented in the group are current in their contributions—leaving 39 that have fallen way behind on their employee plan contributions….about $103 billion behind. Keep that figure in mind as we will return to it shortly. Also keep in mind that these companies have allowed their employee retirement plans to remain seriously underfunded while managing to continue to put away millions of tax free dollars in their executive retirement plans, all of which appear to be fully funded. (Continued on next page) Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 4.
#4. To: tom007 (#0)
(Edited)
One of the reasons for the Bush proposal to put Soc.Sec. money into the stockmarket was simply that Bush's billionaire buddies wanted/needed investments on Wall Street. In some cases, their companies were so mismanaged that no sizable investments could be expected from well-informed financial people and they were hoping that rank amateurs might sprinkle their SS money on them out of ignorance. Someone figured out that if all the SS money had been taken out of US Treasury bonds and put into Wall Street stock when Dubya was campaigning for this idea, millions of retired people who are now getting regular SS payments would instead be living on the street or else dead of starvation and privation.
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