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Keep in mind, though, that I live in Canada where the system is more public than in the US...
>>Most of us, on each paycheck, pay tax payments towards some >>type of national pension plan. What's been going on over the >>last couple decades, is that national governments -who >collect >>these payments- have been taking all the money and lending >it >>to investors who then play that money on the market. Scary >>shit huh? What's worse is that the loss of these monies on >the >>market is apparently the prime reason why there have been >>apparent shortages in pension funds available. At least, >this >>is what has been described to me. Correct me on any >>innaccuracies because I am quite interested in this topic. > >First of all, this has to do with Private Pension funds which >operate completely differently from social security and the >problems with the two of them have nothing to do with each >other. > >As far as the Govt. Goes, the surplus money isn't be lent to >Investors - the surplus money has been loaned to the Govt. in >the form of special issue bonds, meaning that it's a loan that >the Govt. has to pay back with interest. > >Private Pension funds are "lent" to Investors, they're >directly invested into the markets with the idea of growing >the size of the fund, so that the people who are vested in it >can benefit financially. It's supposed to be done in a >conservative manner so that capital is preserved but the >pensioners still see some return. > >Some companies are able to do this rather successfully and >have extra money from Pensions that they have to report as >profit, or find ways to get around reporting it as profit >(Like GE) since it's really money that's for the benefit of >the pensioners, not the company anyway. > >Private Pension funds are in trouble for various reasons >whether it's the company raiding it to make up for revenue >shortfalls, making financial problems that exceed >contributions to the plan, bad planning, etc. > >Private Pensions and Social Security are two entirely >unrelated issues that have nothing to do with each other. > > > > > >Peace, > > > > > > > > > > > >M2 >
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