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03-21-2009, 01:06 AM | #1 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Turtle Island
Posts: 2,776
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BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
BAILOUT MANIA, no end in sight.
Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout By David Evans March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Transit Authority retirement plan had a $1.5 billion hole in its stash of assets in 2007. At the height of a four-year bull market, it didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay its retirees through 2013, meaning it was underfunded to the tune of 62 percent. The CTA, which manages the second-largest public transit system in the U.S., had to hope for a huge contribution from the Illinois state legislature. That wasn’t going to happen. Then the authority found an answer. “We’ve identified the problem and a solution,” said CTA Chairman Carole Brown on April 16, 2007. The agency decided to raise money from a bond sale. A year later, it asked Illinois Auditor General William Holland to research its plan. The state hired an actuary, did a study and, on July 17, concluded that the sale of bonds would most likely result in a loss of taxpayers’ money. Thirteen days after that, the CTA ignored the warning and issued $1.9 billion in bonds. Before the year ended, the pension fund was paying out more to bondholders than it was earning on its new influx of money. Instead of closing its funding gap, the CTA was falling further behind. Public pension funds across the U.S. are hiding the size of a crisis that’s been looming for years. Retirement plans play accounting games with numbers, giving the illusion that the funds are healthy. Article continues: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...1EA&refer=home |
03-21-2009, 03:34 AM | #2 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Colorado Springs
Posts: 413
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Re: BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html $10,000 $1 million dollars $100 million $1 BILLION dollars $1 trillion dollars |
03-21-2009, 04:33 AM | #3 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Turtle Island
Posts: 2,776
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Re: BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
Thanks Machinamentum,
Another way to look at it! 67.9 Miles High of Stacked $1000 Dollar Bills = $1,000,000,000,000 (109.27 Kilometers) 358 Feet High of Stacked $1000 Dollar Bills = $1,000,000,000 (109.11 Meters) 4 Inch High of Stacked $1000 Dollar Bills = $1,000,000 (10.16 Centimeters) (For our metric minded members!) How Much is a Trillion? by Chris Martenson Video (3:38): http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashc...-much-trillion |
03-21-2009, 07:01 AM | #4 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Colorado Springs
Posts: 413
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Re: BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
That's the kind of money power that can remove the sovereignty of nations.
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03-21-2009, 09:21 AM | #5 |
Guest
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Re: BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
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03-21-2009, 05:19 PM | #6 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Belgium
Posts: 153
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Re: BAILOUT MANIA ~ Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout
No need for all that paper. Poor trees.
Here is a simple solution: Hyperinflation would be helpful to make this a reality. |
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