While You Were Sleeping
The best thing about grabbing people’s retirement savings out of pension funds is a two-part deal. The best part is that modern finance is so complicated that almost no one can understand it. The second best part is that no one ever complains, so there’s little chance of getting caught.
For instance, Congress just made radical changes to pension laws, both nationally and internationally. One would think this would be big news, but that’s just not the case. It’s “big news,” all right, but you won’t read anything about the pro-Wall St./hedge fund manager rules rewrite in the corporate press, otherwise known as the “liberal media.”
So, what did our fearless leaders in Congress give the banks and their moneymen at the expense of the your post-retirement quality of life? Two big things.
First, the government, at the behest of the banks and hedge fund managers, has decided that financial institutions that play fast and loose like it’s 2008 will be bailed out (read: rewarded) if they make suckers’ bets and lose depositors’ and investors’ money.
But it’s the second thing that’s the real kicker: If yours is a multi-employer union, the people calling the shots on not paying pensioners what they’re owed will not be arbitrators or pension fund officials—they’ll be the same people who crashed the global economy in 2008.
And if you think these wealthy bankers think you or your members are entitled to jack squat in terms of getting back some of the money you paid, you’ve got a rude awakening on the horizon.