As a Venture Resource Group Member, I'm always
on the lookout for opportunities. In the "sheeple" section of the world,
those opportunities presented tend to be paths fraught with hidden
agendas that benefit the international elite. I found this article
interesting and wanted to share it with the group.
Shamus Cooke
Global Research
December 13, 2008
Unless things change fast, human history will show that the phenomenon
of "retirement" was limited to one generation. After World War
II, when European and Japanese economies stood in tatters, American
capitalism could fulfill "the American dream," since there was
little foreign competition to speak of. For the first time ever, workers
were promised that — after working thirty or so years — they
would be able to securely retire. That was largely the case…for one
generation.
The second generation is having a devastating reality check. 2008 was
supposed to be a watershed year for retirement: it was the first year
that the baby-boomers turned 62, and the retirement frenzy was to begin
(since people could begin to draw on their social security benefits).
Early in the year, however, a study was conducted that found one-fourth
of these boomers were delaying retirement (only the baby-boomers who
were actually able to plan for retirement were studied). The economy has
since nosedived, and many more retirements are being delayed. The
unfortunate reality is that many who planned on retiring will work until
the grave, joining the millions of other baby-boomers who never had such
dreams.
The experts are calling this the "perfect storm" for retirement.
Everything that could go wrong is in fact going wrong. This storm,
however, was not created by supernatural forces, but the coordinated
effort of big-business and their puppet politicians.
The deliberate destruction of the pension and its replacement by the
401(k) was, of course, a giant step towards attacking retirement; but
now that the economic crisis has emerged, we're beginning to see
just how ruinous the effects are.
At the end of September, just as the crisis was beginning to gain steam,
it was discovered that in the previous year the value of stocks in
401(k) accounts had fallen by nearly $2 trillion! Much more has been
lost since then. This is especially devastating since almost one-third
of 401(k) participants in their 60s had 80 percent of their money in
stocks (pension funds have been similarly destroyed).
The 401(k) was the scheme of the century. Corporations offloaded their
"burdensome" pensions and used the combined forces of the media
and politicians to sell the ruse to the public, to the great benefit of
Wall Street. Workers were told that the boom-slump cycle was over, and
that stocks were a sure thing. There were additional factors to invest
in stocks: interest rates were so low that investing in bonds and other
less-risky instruments offered only tiny returns; and since employers
stopped contributing to retirement funds, a bigger return was required.
More importantly, corporations have been driving down real wages since
the seventies, allowing less money to be saved for retirement, creating
a mood of desperation.
Every "safe bet" for investing has been proven unsafe; the
recession has left nothing untouched. After the dotcom bubble burst
— taking with it millions of people's 401(k) savings — the
housing market became the place to invest. Now the safest possible
investment, too, has turned sour. For millions of people, the home they
lived in was their nest egg, which they had planned to sell and move
into a smaller place. No more.
Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), who chairs the House subcommittee on health,
employment, labor and pensions, put it bluntly: "Some will have very
little, some will have almost nothing, and some will have nothing when
they retire". Of course, people who "have nothing" do not
retire.
This process is being accelerated by the newest trick of big business:
declaring bankruptcy to destroy "pension obligations" . These
obligations apply with equal weight to workers already retired, many of
whom are seeing their pensions slashed in half, forcing them out of
retirement.
Now even the threat of bankruptcy is constantly used in union contract
negotiations to scare workers into concessions, since after achieving
bankruptcy, labor agreements are torn up. The threat of closing the
company's doors is a very effective form of intimidation.
This phenomenon is at the center of the GM debate. The corporate
politicians in congress cannot decide whether to appoint a "Car
Tsar" to oversee the destruction of the autoworkers pensions, or use
the proven method of bankruptcy. Not a day goes by that the corporate
media doesn't join hands to assail the pension and health care
benefits of the "spoiled" GM workers. The hypocrisy is
sickening.
This after the UAW had already agreed to the most shameful concessions
in 2007. Although concessions are often made in the name of "job
security," the result is that corporations become emboldened by such
acts. Eventually, every benefit of workers that contradicts company
profit will be targeted. The demand for concessions never stops, and
soon the point arrives when the benefits of having a union become
questioned, since dues money is not paid with concessions in mind.
The autoworkers struggle is at the forefront of the pension battle
nationwide, since their struggles in the 1930's originally paved the
way for pensions. Equally important is the pension struggles emerging
with public employees, the last stronghold of workers who receive them.
Public employees will find their pensions under immense attack as the
economic crisis intensifies, and government budgets are depleted (see
"State Budget Crisis Deepens" on this site).
Fighting the corporate strategy of bankruptcy and business closures is
an immediate need of working people. This tactic will increase in number
as the crisis deepens and companies strive to "restore
profitability" by drastically lowering wages. If a company attempts
such a criminal act, the workers should demand a bailout for themselves;
the government should take over the plant so that the workers can keep
their jobs, such as was done for the banks. Management must be sacked
and instead of a government bureaucrat, the workers themselves should
run the business.
To win this program, new levels of organizing and solidarity are needed,
such as the example of the United Electrical Workers, who occupied their
factory and organized in a brilliant fashion. They won a stunning
victory by utilizing the methods of the original autoworkers struggles
from the 1930's. If a fight is to be waged, it must be done
seriously and with determination, uniting both retired and active
workers. The UEW workers have shown the way forward for the labor
movement, which can no longer rely on union concessions or the promises
of Democratic politicians, but only their own collective strength.
Something to think about, anyway. The opportunities we are presented
with by VRG are strategies to insure that we
thrive in this environment, in spite of what the world's population is
being fed. Join us
