3 ms·

>It's what has become of capitalism. How is this a problem with capitalism? The problem is with centrally controlled public sector employee pensions, which has

>It's what has become of capitalism. How is this a problem with capitalism? The problem is with centrally controlled public sector employee pensions, which has ALWAYS been rife with fraud and corruption as unions and municipal politicians all want a cut of that pie. In a more "ownership society" solution, you take your 401k where you want to. You choose your investments, risk level, etc. Its certainly not perfect (sometimes some groups have high fees but you should be able to switch providers), but the larger issue here is how messed up big city pensions are. In Chicago, the city is going to go bankrupt next month if it can't find huge and new levels of funding/taxation. It has promised so much in pensions it can't remotely pay for via politicking and union corruption, that the taxpayers are shocked at how badly everything has been managed. The larger issue is that the 60's and 70's radical leftist politics have come to roost. We handed unions and public sector workers the keys to the kingdom and now we just can't pay for it as they retire. Its not just fees and its not just Chicago, its going to be a lot of municipalities where pensions are going to do serious damage.

bjourne 12y ago
Capitalism has become incredibly abstract. You make a deposit of €1000 to your retirement account containing €10000 and hopefully, in a few years, due to investments the number will be larger than €11000. But I don't think anyone can trace exactly what happens with the money or what chain of middle men they go through before they come back at you with some profit. Btw, "pension funds" are just an elaborate illusion. What you pay today funds this generation of pensioners. It's not money doing nothing in a bank account. We hope that the working generation coming after us will be nice enough to pay taxes to fund us after we have retired. Surplus tax income used to be used by governments to build infrastructure, schools and housing. Building highways is a form of safe, long-term, high-yield investments. It's almost always profitable but it may take many decades before it becomes so. Nowadays, much less of the surplus is used for that kind of direct investments and we are instead giving it to fund managers and hoping that they will work their magic and give us back more money in the future.

bjourne 12y ago

Capitalism has become incredibly abstract. You make a deposit of €1000 to your retirement account containing €10000 and hopefully, in a few years, due to investments the number will be larger than €11000. But I don't think anyone can trace exactly what happens with the money or what chain of middle men they go through before they come back at you with some profit. Btw, "pension funds" are just an elaborate illusion. What you pay today funds this generation of pensioners. It's not money doing nothing in a bank account. We hope that the working generation coming after us will be nice enough to pay taxes to fund us after we have retired. Surplus tax income used to be used by governments to build infrastructure, schools and housing. Building highways is a form of safe, long-term, high-yield investments. It's almost always profitable but it may take many decades before it becomes so. Nowadays, much less of the surplus is used for that kind of direct investments and we are instead giving it to fund managers and hoping that they will work their magic and give us back more money in the future.