Chicago – Where More People are Retired than Paying into Government Pensions | Armstrong Economics

Over 80% of government pension funds are completely funded by the government with no employees paying into the funds. This reflects why governments are coming after the people and extorting more taxes under the threat of seizing your home and throwing you in prison. For 169 governmental bodies in Chicago, the numbers reveal the crisis. In Chicago, there are thousands of more retired state employees collecting pensions than active workers who are paying into it the pension funds. As reported, in a small suburban district known as the Arlington Heights Park District, there are 432 retirees collecting from that district’s pension fund with only 103 active employees paying into it. These shortfalls are expected to be funded by taxpayers. What is happening in Chicago is indicative of the crisis engulfing Western governments as a whole. These people always counted on an increasing supply of taxpayers. But the birthrate has dropped as well as the marriage rate. The Democrats handed students to the bankers, removing all their rights to bankruptcy, and universities kept raising prices because funding for students would always be there. With over 60% of students now unable to find employment with the degrees they paid so dearly for, the future looks very bleak. They cannot buy homes because of their chronic debts. Marriage is declining and the under-30 generation has a majority that is not interested in even having children. There is a huge rise in VEGANISM as well. The number of babies born in the United States continues to fall dramatically. The birth rate made a new record low during 2017, dropping 7% in a single year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary numbers for 2018 show that the decline has continued. The 1950s were called the “Baby Boom” when women had an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime. That has collapsed on a worldwide basis to 2.4 children per woman last year, and this decade is being called the great “Baby Bust.” The global warming crowd should be ecstatic. They have reduced the human population growth by about 50%. The crisis now is there will be a shortage of taxpayers to fund their grand projects along with governments. Socialism cannot possibly survive when we exist to feed those in government who particularly never contributed to their own pensions.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/pension-crisis/chicago-more-people-retired-than-paying-into-government-pensions/

This is not just Chicago

Getting Old & Risking Unemployment Thanks to Socialism | Armstrong Economics

The reality these days are that more than 50% of older workers are pushed out of their longtime jobs before they choose to retire. The major factor in this trend is their pension. Pensions are bankrupting both private and public sectors for the entire idea is showing impractical economic stress. Before FDR and the great New Deal, people would marry and have 4 or 5 kids and the wife stayed home and took care of the family. Back then, those who had no family did not fare very well. Hence, the Social Security Act was passed in 1935. This is a clip from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated June 19, 1935. It was supposed to be assistance for old age, not the beginning and end to all. It also was amended to allow private pensions, which under the first draft could have been interpreted to prevent companies from offering pension plans. But the idea of pensions was inspired by the Great Depression and then personal income tax entered with the payroll tax. Today, most families cannot afford to allow the wife to stay home and raise the children and they often have only two children or less due to the expense. The women’s liberation won the right to work, but they lost the right to raise their family staying at home. It now requires two salaries to pay for all the taxes where it once was sufficient for one salary to support a family. Of course, economically, with women entering the workforce, the economy has grown to accommodate them. Many younger girls in their 20s comment that they are not interested in having children anymore. So while the profile of the workforce has changed, many workers over 50 are also experiencing multiple job losses because they are not familiar with the new technologies. Now people in their 30s are already falling behind the technology curve as teens tend to run circles around them. The trend is becoming anti-college. It is increasingly obvious that higher education itself is way behind the technology curve. The old saying, “Those who can’t do teach,” is the same in other fields as those who can’t play sports professionally just teach gym. Google, Apple, and 12 other companies no longer require employees to have a college degree in the United States. The careers that are rapidly moving into not requiring college degrees are Marketing Designer, Publicity Assistant, Senior Manager of Finance, Production Assistant, Senior Editor, Production Editor, Art Director, & more. Even at IBM they no longer require a college degree for positions as a Financial Blockchain Engineer, Lead Recruiter, Contract & Negotiations Professional, Product Manager, Entry Level System Services Representative, Research Staff Member, Client Solution Executive, & more. The movie “Vice” showed the rise of Dick Cheney to the effective VP of the United States had no such degree. The examples are endless. They cannot teach entrepreneurship in college. Even being an investor or trader is not something one can learn in college. There are no degrees in Hedge Fund Management. Ernst & Young stopped requiring degrees to be an accountant. Younger Americans became deeply indebted for a degree, especially after the Clinton’s made student loans non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, and it has profoundly harmed the economy. Many kids are living at home with their parents into their 30s because they cannot buy a house due to their indebtedness for degrees that are becoming hopelessly worthless in many fields. The older workers into their late 40s to 50s are facing an increasingly difficult working life in their later years. Workers are being asked to finance their own retirements, age discrimination laws are blunted by U.S. courts in favor of employers, and the dreams of retirement are evaporating rapidly. Now 56% of Americans in their 50s working full-time in long-held jobs are getting laid off or pushed out on their way to retirement. Some companies are at least offering a buy out for early retirement to cut costs. Many just find an excuse to lay them off to escape pensions. Only a smaller portion is able to find similar work, but only one in 10 ever make what they did before their employment career. This is where their household incomes show signs of the profound damage even years after the fact. Then we have those who leave due to health or having to take care of a family member. Add all these groups together and we arrive at a frightening number — almost two-thirds of Americans retire involuntarily. The reality of the worker today is by no means sailing on a yacht and traveling the world. Most people face nothing of the sort, glued to a TV in their home frustrated by all the commercials and fake news. Then every government, desperate for money, demands taxes from their retirement. California was even going after people who earned a pension in California but moved to Florida where their pension is not taxed. Socialism has merely converted the government into one giant sucking machine. They pretend to care for the people, but they come first. Their own pensions are destroying the pensions of everyone else. The technology curve is far too great for even universities. Their teachers are also behind the times and incapable of teaching cutting-edge developments. This is why Google & Apple no longer require college degrees.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/pension-crisis/getting-old-risk-of-job-loss-thanks-to-socialism/

Public pensions for government workers are out of control because politicians can kick the funding issue down the road long after they retire on their fat pensions. JohnBarleycorn

The Fate of All Municipal Governments – Look to Peoria, Illinois | Armstrong Economics

The system we have is totally corrupt and it outright UNSUSTAINABLE!!!! In Illinois, the city of Peoria has been forced to eliminate 22 firefighter and 16 police positions even after they made 27 layoffs earlier this year. Besides eliminating employees, they are now looking at adding a tax of $50-$300 to try to cover their own pension schemes as pension spending consuming everything. Pension costs are forcing Peoria to cut 38 emergency worker positions and to raise property taxes further. Peoria joins the south Chicago suburb of Harvey which is yet another warning of what is coming over the next three years into 2021.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/the-fate-of-all-municipal-governments-look-to-peoria-illinois/

Pension obligations again

Bundesbank warns of Coming Pension Crisis | Armstrong Economics

The Bundesbank has come out warning that there is a German pension crisis. They have proposed that states raise the pension tax and that they should gradually increase the retirement age because the life expectancy in the future has risen. Central Bank President, Jens Weidmann, has stated that he is generally in favor of raising the statutory retirement age beyond 67 years. We must understand that the ECB policy of “stimulating” the economy with negative interest rates has bankrupted state pension plans. This theory that lowering interest rates to get people to borrow and thus manipulate demand higher has NEVER been proven to have ever worked. The consequence of what we now face is a major pension crisis that is undermining the future of Western economies.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/pension-crisis/bundesbank-warns-of-coming-pension-crisis/

Coming to America soon

Pension Crisis hits Russia | Armstrong Economics

Vladimir Putin tried to reform Russia’s pensions system which is crumbling as is the case in the West. This giant Ponzi Scheme is collapsing and it has been the heart of Socialism. Putin’s approval rating plummeted this year in the aftermath dropping from 82% in April 2018, dropping to 66% here in October 2018. His decision to reform Russia’s pensions was met with tens of thousands of Russians taking to the streets to protest. This is what we are to expect over the course of the next two years. It is also why the Federal Reserve is desperately trying to gradually raise interest rates in hopes of stabilizing the Pension Crisis. There is simply NO system that will survive this Pension Crisis because the design was faulty from the outset. The traditional way people took care of their future was to build a family structure. The children took care of the parents. The promises of socialism have relieved the children of such obligations for the government was there. As we begin to witness this crisis unfold, the world financial system will be turned on its head.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/pension-crisis/pension-crisis-hits-russia/

Trump Tries to Deal with the Pension Crisis | Armstrong Economics

Most small businesses do not offer retirement plans because the excessive regulation which drives the costs significantly higher. Trump’s new Executive Order is primarily designed to reduce those costs by streamlining the excessive regulation. The order further makes it clear: “Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider proposing amendments to regulations or other guidance, consistent with applicable law and the policy…” The biggest problem with retirement plans has been the pretense that they should be “conservative” and that has meant they buy government debt. As the Fed lowered rates to “stimulate” the economy, they have remained well below 8% for more than a decade which has sharply reduced the ability to plan for retirement using bonds. Unless people begin to select more private investment into equities, they stand to lose a fortune and find themselves unable to retire. The sharp decline in the birth rate has also created a dangerous situation. For centuries, you had children to ensure you would be taken care of in your old age. Socialism has destroyed the family unit and taxation with student loans has drastically reduced the earning ability of children to save no less take care of their parents. The entire historical family structure has been undermined and the pension crisis poses a huge social threat in the years ahead.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/pension-crisis/trump-tries-to-deal-with-the-pension-crisis/

The German Pension Crisis to Become a Political Issue as in Italy | Armstrong Economics

The Pension Crisis is starting to be noticed in Europe. The German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is arguing that the federal government has to guarantee the pension level until 2040. He is arguing that the government MUST come up with a plausible financing model which seems actually impossible. The increase in taxes to cover pension that far out would devastate the younger generations. So far, this Grand Coalition in Germany has agreed on stabilization plan by 2025. We may see the pension issue become a major factor in the next election. There is no solution as long as Germany continues to adhere to austerity. The only way the pension crisis can be addressed is to inflate out so you pay people with a cheaper currency. The collapse of Socialism is underway because the people rightly expected all governments to do everything they could to live safely and satisfy their promises of bliss for retirement. They are already witnessing that saving for retirement has not worked when central banks use interest rates to manipulate the economy and in Germany, they have had negative interest rates thanks to Draghi and the ECB. Indeed, in Germany, this policy of austerity is in direct conflict with Socialism. The only way the system has held together this long is because of inflation. The Pension Crisis is one element behind the rise of political unrest, particularly in Italy. In Germany, the Pension Crisis is starting to fuel the AfD and the nationalist populists in their movement. Scholz has warned that without resolving this issue, Germany will see its own version of Donald Trump take command. Political change is coming and the current crop of politicians have no real answers. The German magazine, Spiegel, reported that according to estimates by the German Pension Fund, the so-called sustainability reserve will reach around €37.3 billion euros by the end of December 2018. The reserve has been increasing of late 4.4% (year/year) because of the strong employment situation in Germany under its export model. Nevertheless, the pension insurance assumes that by 2023, the contribution rate of 18.6% of gross wages must be increased yet again. This is already a hefty percentage of gross income and it is not going to be enough.
— Read on www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/germany/the-german-pension-crisis-to-become-a-political-issue-as-in-italy/