VAPORIZED: Detroit Obliterates Retirement Funds: 80% Cuts to Pensioners: “This Is Goi

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VAPORIZED: Detroit Obliterates Retirement Funds: 80% Cuts to Pensioners: “This Is Going to Affect Everyone”

Mac Slavo
SHTFPlan.com
December 4, 2013

Though a decade ago civil servants and union members would never have believed it could happen, the stark reality of the situation came to pass this morning.

We now know the answer to the question: What happens when a government makes promises it can’t keep and borrows so much money it can never be repaid?

This morning a judge overseeing the City of Detroit’s fiscal sustainability ruled that the City can be afforded bankruptcy protection, meaning that all 100,000 of its creditors now stand to lose a significant portion of monies owed to them.

The most notable victims are the tens of thousands of retirees living off of pensions – many of whom will see an 80% obliteration of the retirement funds they believed they’d receive until they died.

Creditor attorneys have repeatedly speculated they expect Orr’s plan of adjustment to mirror the June 14 proposal he offered creditors to avoid bankruptcy. That deal proposed giving unsecured creditors such as pensioners and bondholders a $2 billion note for $11.5 billion in estimated debts — or less than 18 cents for every dollar owed.

Most of those affected assumed the government would simply find a way to borrow more money or fabricate it out of thin air. They were wrong and now they are paying the price:

“Oh my, oh my. Everyone is worried. When we think about what could happen, it’s scary,” said Larsen, 85, who moved to Palm Harbor, Fla., outside of Tampa after he retired in 1976.

“If they take our health insurance? Oh god. Cutting pensions? It’s terrible. The city of Detroit was our pride. Honest to goodness. We loved it.”



“We are all worried,” said Nancy Schmidt, the group’s secretary. “This is going to affect everyone in different ways. If it comes to fruition, I’ve got two empty bedrooms and I may end up having to rent them out.”



“My net pension is $2,300 a month,” said Kammer, 77, who moved to Englewood, Fla., not long after retiring with a disability in 1977.

“I could make it for a while, go through savings, but pretty soon, I’d end up in bankruptcy.”



“(Retirees) feel like something that they’ve earned and were promised is being taken away from when they’re not in a position in their lives to plan for it and fight back,” Plecha said. “They’re at a time in their lives when they’re most vulnerable.”

Detroit is the first and they have now set a precedent for other cities in similar situations. You can be assured that more will follow.

First it will be the cities. Then the states will go under. And finally, the Grand-Poobah – our own Federal government. Detroit’s debts are pocket change compared to the $200 trillion in future liabilities owed by the United States of America.

If you are depending on a government retirement package to be there for you for the rest of your life, you’d better think again. Over twenty thousand Detroit retirees thought the same thing – and as of today they have been wiped out.

When this crisis hits the Federal Government – and it will – you’d better be ready for them to take drastic measures. This means they’ll be forced to not only cut retirement benefits promised to federal employees, but will make the case that if they have to give up their retirement funds, you’ll have to give up your 401k, IRA or personal savings.

Sounds impossible, right? Congressional members have already gotten the ball rolling on a nationalization of America’s retirement funds, and when they are ready to do it they’ll pass the legislation just like they did when they seized 1/6th of our economy by nationalizing health care.

They are coming for the money – YOUR money – because they will be left with no other choice.

If you’re not planning on a secondary income stream or preserving wealth in the form ofgold and silver, productive land, or other tangible assets, you’ll end up just like the retirees from Detroit. Having additional resources, like a well stocked long-term pantryand a preparedness plan for financial disaster, can mean the difference between living in poverty or thriving when best laid plans fall apart.

Plan for the worst, because that’s what’s coming.

Related posts:

Obama To Detroit: “No Bailout For You”
State laying groundwork for managed bankruptcy for Detroit
Americans raiding retirement funds early
Instead of Funding Retirement Accounts As Mandatory, Treasury Proceeds To Plunder The Most Since Debt Ceiling Breach
Congressman Asks Obama For “Immediate Support” With Detroit Bankruptcy

This article was posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 7:04 am
 

I'm shocked! Who's been running this city?:laughing7:
 

I actually feel sorry for the pensioners. They were promised a certain amount in retirement and now many of them are too old to go back to work. It's a bad situation that eventually had to blow up because their unions kept getting more and more and Detroit couldn't possibly keep up once the city was in decline. Many of these union aquired retirement packages are going to fall apart all across the country and this is just the first major one.
 

Yup.....socialism in Detroit finally ran out of "other people's money".
Jim
 

I believe there may not be any pension fund in the US today that if fully funded--to protect the members for a Detroit-type situation.
I see Detroit as just the first 'domino' (of many) to fall; and only major bureaucratic surgery now will save even part of other pension funds future payments; the bitter pill of reality must be taken.
Don.......
 

I believe there may not be any pension fund in the US today that if fully funded--to protect the members for a Detroit-type situation.
I see Detroit as just the first 'domino' (of many) to fall; and only major bureaucratic surgery now will save even part of other pension funds future payments; the bitter pill of reality must be taken.
Don.......

Actually you are wrong, there are some city's like ours that are well over funded last statement I received we had 4.5 billion in it. This pension fund is run by it's members not any bureaucrats. There was a time we invested in South Africa and made 125% per year on our holdings then the libs stepped in and said it wasn't right over some Bull shirt.
 

I believe there may not be any pension fund in the US today that if fully funded--to protect the members for a Detroit-type situation.
I see Detroit as just the first 'domino' (of many) to fall; and only major bureaucratic surgery now will save even part of other pension funds future payments; the bitter pill of reality must be taken.
Don.......

I am drawing from 3 pension funds now that are still fully funded and healthy but i do know people who lost all their pensions after they retired when the company they worked for went bankrupt...

2 of mine are Fortune 500 companies and the other is IBEW..
 

I may move out of California for the right reasons.

I think the best reason is you live in california.:laughing9:
 

Similar thing happened to my mom before she passed on. She was a senior cost accountant for Spalding (the sporting goods people) for 35 years. Retired with a good pension. Was non-union since she was considered part of management. Spalding went under, the name was bought by another company, and the checks stopped coming. Luckily she had some savings and Social Security but 2 years in assisted living ate up most of her savings.
 

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Similar thing happened to my mom before she passed on. She was a senior cost accountant for Spalding (the sporting goods people) for 35 years. Retired with a good pension. Was non-union since she was considered part of management. Spalding went under, the name was bought by another company, and the checks stopped coming. Luckily she had some savings and Social Security but 2 years in assisted living ate up most of her savings.

Sorry about your mom.

I am considering retiring in S.America, it is cheap and you can get a full time nurse or assisted living facility cheap if ever needed.

Hosipital room is $50 a day with extra bed for family member. Assisted living facility is $500 a month in areas I looked at.... I am planning trip there to check out in person by summer.
 

Quoting Mac Slavo as posted above by REDJAMESCASH: "Sounds impossible, right? Congressional members have already gotten the ball rolling on a nationalization of America’s retirement funds, and when they are ready to do it they’ll pass the legislation just like they did when they seized 1/6th of our economy by nationalizing health care."

Not true. Requiring everyone buy insurance or pay a penalty tax is not nationalization. The beleaguered insurance marketplaces were a Republican idea originally and help you shop for private insurance...nothing nationalized or socialized about the marketplace websites or the insurance providers they show you. The subsidies have a socialist aspect but nothing to do with nationalizing like they did in the UK, Canada, Cuba, etc. where the doctors, nurses etc are all government employees.
 

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Quoting REDJAMESCASH: "Sounds impossible, right? Congressional members have already gotten the ball rolling on a nationalization of America’s retirement funds, and when they are ready to do it they’ll pass the legislation just like they did when they seized 1/6th of our economy by nationalizing health care."

Youre not quoting me I didnt write it,youre quoting the author of the article Mac Slavo.
 

Sorry about your mom.

I am considering retiring in S.America, it is cheap and you can get a full time nurse or assisted living facility cheap if ever needed.

Hosipital room is $50 a day with extra bed for family member. Assisted living facility is $500 a month in areas I looked at.... I am planning trip there to check out in person by summer.
$500 a month is a gift. Hers was $4000 a month and they wouldn't allow her to keep her dog so my daughter had to take him. I told them one time that for 4k a month she should be able to have a pet giraffe if she wanted one....
 

Most of the lead post is speculation based on one fact - Detroit has been been approved for bankruptcy.

The city's manager will now file a sustainability plan outlining what cuts, if any are made to pensioners.

it would appear that some pensioners will get cuts, but no one is going to lose 80%. And, probably not anywhere near it.

Much depends on the actual unfunded pension liability. Which is not a straight forward number. That number is determined by doing what is called a net present value calculation. That calculation has many variables, all of which affect it's value.For example lowering the projected growth rate increases the unfunded liability. ( with the markets doing less of the heavy lifting the city would need to ante up more dollars to cover the liability). Increasing the growth rate lowers the unfunded liability. And on it goes. plenty for the union lawyers and the city to go back forth over.

Much of the city's pension is invested in the stock market. Though some view the stock market as speculation, like playing the ponies, the truth is, it is far from. Equity investment is recognized by investment experts as a wealth generating engine. Which is why every large pension plan in the country is invested in stocks. While the stock market played no role in today's outcome it could have a large effect on how well the pensioners actually do.

In light of the excellent year the market has had YTD, Union lawyers, who will fight the city's effort to cut pensions, may be able to show that the city's projected growth rate is too low. That would be a huge win for pensioners.

That said, for now this judge's unprecedented ruling is now the law of the land. For cities and city workers across the country it is a game changer. It shows city workers caught in a similar situation in the future that negotiating cuts out of bankruptcy is better than forcing a bankruptcy.

Still, the actual effects remain to be seen.
 

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$500 a month is a gift. Hers was $4000 a month and they wouldn't allow her to keep her dog so my daughter had to take him. I told them one time that for 4k a month she should be able to have a pet giraffe if she wanted one....

That is why I am considering retiring in S.America. Cheap living...

I have researched Panama, Equador, Granada and Nicaragua so far, all of them have Expatriate communities. ..

We will NOT go quietly into the night!
 

it would appear that some pensioners will get cuts, but no one is going to lose 80%. And, probably not anywhere near it.

Wheres your proof?
 

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