State pension funding gap

[Gary K]

Pension funds, the money states have invested to pay the pensions for their retired employees, are seriously underfunded. The last available data on this seems to be from 2016, and at that time the states, in total, were short on funds by 35%. Meaning of course that they held only enough money to pay less than 2/3s of the pensions they have contracted to pay their retired workers. Think this is an, oh well, moment? It's not. The promised pensions total $4 trillion dollars. The amount of money the states actually have to pay that $4 trillion in benefits? $2.6 trillion. They are $1.4 trillion short. That is an incredible amount of money.

http://www.pionline.com/article/201...ension-plans-see-funding-gap-increase-in-2016

Oh, well, that's just the states, right? Well the funds for paying the pensions of people who have worked for the Federal government has a slight problem too. They are only $3.5 trillion short on funds. Hey, that's only approximately 1/5 of our total GDP. No biggie. Right? The combined pension funds for state, local, and federal government employees are only short a combined $7 trillion. Peanuts. Right? Hey, it's only 40% of the US's annual total GDP. Well, how about Social Security. Well, it's only $13.4 trillion short on funds. Since that is only between 70 and 75% of our annual GDP it's no problem right? You total it all up and it's only a shortfall of more than $20 trillion, which is only approximately 111% of our annual GDP. And we haven't even begun to think about the shortfall in corporate pension plans.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-7-trillion-pension-shortfall-2016-4

Hey, we're the richest nation in the world. Right? Debt = wealth. Right? Yeah, we have to be incredibly rich since we are that far in debt. And we're only going another $.5 trillion in debt every fiscal year. We are rich beyond our wildest dreams. Right? We have nothing to worry about. We're in great financial shape. Nothing can hurt us.... Debt and inflation and a valueless dollar means nothing. Right? Hey, let's keep on running huge budget deficits. They can't possibly hurt us.

 

[Gary K]

Oh, btw, the opening post describes what is called the Keynesian blessing. Why? We have our politician's lack of critical thinking involving Maynard Keynes economic philosphy to thank for all of this. So, say thank you to Maynard Keynes, Democrats and RINO Republicans.

 

[Jonahdog]

Do you have a position on the latest Federal tax cut? Along with the Omnibus spending bill. Did that make the situation better or worse?

 

[patrick jane]

Do you have a position on the latest Federal tax cut? Along with the Omnibus spending bill. Did that make the situation better or worse?

Do you really care about spending?

 

[Gary K]

Now let's look at some of the other debt in the US. There is something called derivatives. What a derivative actually consists of is debt that has been repackaged and sold to investors such as pension funds, banks, hedge funds, mutual funds, etc.... Private individuals have a vested interest in almost all of these institutions. We depend on them staying solvent for if they go bust, well, the money supply dries up and we don't get our retirement benefits, can't do little things like have a job, buy groceries, pay the rent/mortgage, have all our individual debt called in at once, etc.....

The interest on this kind of debt is controlled by something known as LIBOR. That acronym stands for London Inter Bank Offered Rate. It is the interest banks and other commercial insitutions pay on the debt they hold. Nobody knows exactly how much debt is held in derivatives, but some really smart financial analysts say an educated guess would be $370 trillion. The LIBOR rate back in 2015 was .3%. So what does that have to do with the man on the street? Well, when the interest rate is .3% institutions only owe $1,110,000,000,000 a year, and that is figured with no compounding of interest. No big deal right? What's $1.11 triillion a year to all these wealthy institutions? Well, the LIBOR rate has been rising since then. It is now 2.3% and rising. What does that mean? The yearly interest due on that debt is now, figuring it with no compounding of interest, at $8.51 trillion a year. Some really smart, very knowledgable financial analysts say the LIBOR rate is going to go as high as 4-5%. What would the interest payments on that debt be then? $14.8 trillion and $18.5 trillion, respectively.

Now what has that to do with we little guys? Why does this interest rate keep on climbing? The interest rate keeps on climbing because this debt problem has banks not trusting other banks to be solvent because of all this debt. Now all this interest is one thing. There is another part associated with this. And that is when the debt comes due. That amount of debt means there isn't enough money in the world to pay it. It simply doesn't exist. This debt is consumer debt, housing debt, and state, local and federal debt, corprate bonds, etc.... This means it is a combination of short term and long term debt. And it is coming due. It has to be paid off sometime. Right now the interest alone is 47% of the US's total GDP. If you think this is sustainable, think again. The fact that LIBOR keeps rising at a rapid rate says bankers themselves don't believe it is sustainable.

Hey, that's only debt right? No big deal right? Let's just print money to pay it off. Let's just let the government create "stimulus" packages to bail out all these institutions to keep them solvent. No biggie right? Well, that's only another $370 trillion worth of inflation. Since our anual GDP is only $18 trillion what does it all mean? It means that sometime in the near future we are going to need to print 20.55 times as much money as the current GDP. What do you think that amount of inflation is going to do to grocery prices? Gas prices? Housing prices? The price of everything you buy.

This is what is called a debt bubble. It is unsustainable. It will come due. This is the real reason you see such stock market instability. Investors know a reckoning is due. Many are pulling what they have right now out of the market. So why does the market keep on rebounding? The Fed and central banks around the world keep on printing money and pumping it into the stock market. And every time they do they suck more money out of your pockets with inflation and it's reduced buying power. This is also why we see an explosion of crypto currencies. Nobody with any knowledge of economics trusts the stability of the US dollar anymore. And with good reason. It isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

Do you now wish you had really understood economics for most of your life? Don't you wish that the educational system had taught you economic realities? Well, it's not by accident that they didn't. It was by plan that they have kept you ignorant of reality. Why? Because if we had really understood economics we would have raised so much cain with politicians they could not have spent us into oblivion, and we would not have allowed ourselves to borrow ourselves into extinction.

Sweet dreams....

 

[Gary K]

Now, let this be understood. This debt problem is not due to capitalism. This debt problem comes straight from Marxist ideology. They accept Maynard Keynes as their financial guru and follow him blindly. The policies followed by banks and governments have been founded in the postulations from Keynes's book General Theory. That book has been refuted by honest economists several times over. Yet it is followed with religious zeal, and has been taught as absolute truth in our public educational institutions for at least 100 years.

Keyne's book is nothing more than economic theories that had already been proven not to work by the time Keynes wrote his book. He just repackaged them in highly obfuscatory language. He made what he said so vague that it took years for competent economists to actually understand what he said. It was his great dream to defraud the public, by his own stated admission in a letter to his father, and he accomplished his dream. He has defrauded the entire world. Marxists have used his ideas to destroy liberty, for whoever holds your debt is your master. And the people who hold the debt are marxists. They know what they have done, and they have done it intentionally. You are now their serfs, their peons. That is the marxist dream.

This reality is what Trump inherited when he became president. This is what he is fighting against. And look at what the press and the vast majority of established politicians are doing to him. They will lay all blame at the feet of Donald Trump, yet is they who are the guilty ones. They are the ones who created the entire debt system and kept us ignorant of finacial realities. So, all you Trump haters out there, you now know who and what you are aligned with. You now know exactly who it is you have followed to the destruction of your own liberties and finances. It's too bad some of you are so indoctrinated you will applaud his destruction, as you will be applauding your own destruction. All I can say is sinful humn nature is simply incredibly self-destructive. Following Biblical principles would have prevented all of this. God always knows best.

 

[Tambora]

What's the latest on social security?
How close is it to being depleted?

 

[Gary K]

What's the latest on social security?
How close is it to being depleted?

Tambora,

Unfortunately the total economic collapse is now a mathematical certainty. There is no if about it. It's when. When those derivatives collapse social security collapses right along with it. The entire economic system collapses, not only here but world wide. You want to know what that looks like? Think the current Venezuelan situation on steriods, where their political leaders blame the people for being hungry because "they eat too much". And that is a direct quote. Those who survive will survive because of their faith in God. Who knows, maybe God will feed His faithful people the same way He fed Elijah. All we can really do is place our faith and trust in Him.

 

[Tambora]

Tambora,

Unfortunately the total economic collapse is now a mathematical certainty. There is no if about it. It's when. When those derivatives collapse social security collapses right along with it. The entire economic system collapses, not only here but world wide. You want to know what that looks like? Think the current Venezuelan situation on steriods, where their political leaders blame the people for being hungry because "they eat too much". And that is a direct quote. Those who survive will survive because of their faith in God. Who knows, maybe God will feed His faithful people the same way He fed Elijah. All we can really do is place our faith and trust in Him.

I got the faith.
I was just wondering if there was any more specific news on social security.
Rumors that I cannot confirm have been floating around for a few years lately that social security is already in a pickle, and that many that are depending on it when they retire may get nothing but an "I'm sorry, we're no longer in business" message.
Meanwhile, they still forcibly take social security from paychecks even though they know they won't be able to pay it back.
The way government handles our money is a racket.

 

[Gary K]

I got the faith.
I was just wondering if there was any more specific news on social security.
Rumors that I cannot confirm have been floating around for a few years lately that social security is already in a pickle, and that many that are depending on it when they retire may get nothing but an "I'm sorry, we're no longer in business" message.
Meanwhile, they still forcibly take social security from paychecks even though they know they won't be able to pay it back.
The way government handles our money is a racket.

The way the government handles our money is criminal. If we as private citizens did what they do on a daily basis we would be sitting in jail. There is no doubt about it.

Those, so-called, rumors are the truth. The government has spent the money as fast as it came in.

Nobody knows when the derivatives will collapse. It may be a month, six months, a year, two years. The timing simply isn't known because of the games the central banks play, but it is clear that they cannot keep up the deception for much longer. However, the longer they keep up the deciet the worse the result will be. When they, the derivatives, go social security goes. It simply cannot survive that type of hit. Think inflation rates in the Weimar Republic after WWI. It took a wheel barrow full of deutsche marks to buy a loaf of bread. If the people didn't cash their check as soon as their employer paid them, and then go to the store and buy what they needed, their money was worthless by the end of the day. It's called hyper inflation and it is coming soon.

I understand your concern. I'm on social security too. My income is on the line too. I simply cannot give you an honest answer other than, I don't know. There are some very smart financial analysts who have spent decades at their jobs and they don't know either. They just know it's coming becusee that's what the math says. You might want to go to usawatchdog.com and listen to Greg Hunter's interviews of Bill Holter and others. Greg's last interview of Holter is very good. Holter is very knowledgable.

 

[The Barbarian]

The way the government handles our money is criminal. If we as private citizens did what they do on a daily basis we would be sitting in jail. There is no doubt about it.

We have Paul Ryan, who has consistently preached the story that he just wants to balance the budget and cut debt.

And then, as his only contribution to that end, hands us a tax giveaway that will result in a trillion dollar debt.

He's bailing out before the crash hits, hoping that maybe if he goes away for a few years, we won't remember who did this to us. Hoping that maybe he can return, peddling the same snake oil, and become president.

 

[Jonahdog]

We have Paul Ryan, who has consistently preached the story that he just wants to balance the budget and cut debt.

And then, as his only contribution to that end, hands us a tax giveaway that will result in a trillion dollar debt.

He's bailing out before the crash hits, hoping that maybe if he goes away for a few years, we won't remember who did this to us. Hoping that maybe he can return, peddling the same snake oil, and become president.

No, I dont see Ryan running, he doesn't need the aggravation and I dont think his ego needs the stroking ala the current moron at 1600 PA Avenue. He will make a ton of $ and his recently passed tax code will push his net even higher. Just another Republican out to do what he can for himself and his rich buddies.

 

[The Barbarian]

Oh, btw, the opening post describes what is called the Keynesian blessing. Why? We have our politician's lack of critical thinking involving Maynard Keynes economic philosphy to thank for all of this. So, say thank you to Maynard Keynes, Democrats and RINO Republicans.

Keynes pointed out that the way out of a deep recession was for governments to cut taxes, spend money, and increase debt. It works. But notice that Roosevelt, who followed Keynes' advice, followed all of it. Keynes pointed out that this was not a viable long-term policy, and after recovery, the money needed to be paid back.

Reagan was the first to attempt to make Keynsian economics a permanent policy. And the results were a huge load of debt.

By Bush II, conservatives were locked into the idea:

"You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due."
Dick Cheney, 2004

But deficits do matter. And Trump's policies will produce the first trillion dollar deficit for the United States.

 

[Jonahdog]

Reagan was the first to attempt to make Keynsian economics a permanent policy. And the results were a huge load of debt.

St. Ronny was not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he was Einstein compared to what we have now.

 

[chair]

We had state-funded pensions in this country. Basically: the government would pay pensions out of the regular budget. i.e. "kick the can down the road".

About 20 years ago they stopped this, and new pensions are in private funds, even for government workers. Employee and employer both contribute.

There are still legacy government pensions, but no at least new ones are generated.

 

[The Barbarian]

St. Ronny was not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he was Einstein compared to what we have now.

No one ever suspected that Reagan didn't love America. And if people had accused him of collusion with Russia, they would have been laughed at.

 

[Gary K]

The interview to which I am linking here is very good. The problems created by the federal government having been run as a criminal operation for the last couple of decades is covered really well. So is the constitutional crisis which we are now in. Catherine Austin Fitts is extremely knowledgeable in these areas and she tells the truth.

The interview doesn't really get into high gear until around the 6:30 mark. From then on the interview is a great education. You want to know how badly you are being sold out? Watch this video.

 

[Jefferson]

Lowering the pension sum will have a lot of consequences, people will be very worried about this situation and it can lead to massive protests in the future.

Watch Biden allow us to get into a war. That will allow the Keynsians to blame the economic collapse on the war rather than on their screwed up economic philosophy.