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When you want something done right...

Posted by Republitarian on Thursday, April 05, 2007 2:13:26 PM

There's an old adage: When you want something done right, do it yourself. Why then, do millions of us leave our retirement planning to our employers? One would think that after tens of thousands of employees of ENRON, Worldcom, and United Airline Airlines saw their retirement savings dissapear overnight, we would know better. Then, of course, are those on the left who say that the corporate scandals are a perfect example of why government should take on this responsibility. This argument is typically presented in the opposition to 'privatizing' Social Security.

But check this out. The NY Times recently ran an article concerning the looming crisis (see link below) for the New Jersey teacher's pension plan. It seems that the state has not been upholding its promise to properly fund the teacher's pensions. Basically, they took the artificially inflated value of the fund back in 1999 and used it as 'seed money' to fund the plan in the early part of this decade. However, after the dot-com burst and the recession that followed 911, the artificial gains had dissapeared. During that time, the state made either very small contributions to the fund, or sometimes, no contribution at all!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/nyregion/04pension.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

I predict that New Jersey is not alone. The Government Accountability Offfice (GAO) is considering new actions requiring states to disclose their actions in funding pension plans. Other state governments that 'cooked the books' may find themselves in a similar situation as New Jersey. I know that Oregon's PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) has been under scrutiny for years and no substantial data has been made public.

To summarize, if you have any desire to retire comfortably, take matters into your own hands. Get a 401K or a few IRAs. Heck, stuff money in your mattress for all I care. But do not, under any circumstances, count on your employer (corporate or government) to fund your retirement.

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Healthcare as a Monopoly

Posted by Republitarian on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 5:35:37 PM

As the 2008 race looms ahead, many are saying that 'Universal Healthcare' will be a high priority issue. Most Democrats I talk to are suggesting that we need to implement a government managed (controlled) healthcare system.

On August 30th, 2006, Kevin Drum wrote an article for the Washington Post. In it, he states:

"Thanks to innovations introduced during Bill Clinton's administration, VA healthcare is now among the nation's best. It's cheaper than either private healthcare or Medicare, the quality is top notch, and it operates according to strict performance standards."

Yet, recently, in the news, the efficiency of the VA Healthcare system is being called into question

So, apparently Democrats know how to build a great healthcare system, but Republicans can ruin it in 6 months.

Why is it that monopolies run by corporations are bad, yet monopolies run by government are good? Monopolies are bad, no matter who is controlling them. Government mononpolies are worse, because they can re-inforce their monopolies with laws and guns. Corporate monopolies still have to deal with the government, new competitors, and their customers.