The promises made to the elderly and the arm-twisting banner deals made by special interests i.e., union concessions, are simply impossible to pay. In the U.K. alone, the pension pledges are 3.5x their entire economy.
The world's most advanced economies, including Britain and the US, would be insolvent if they accounted properly for the pension and health pledges made to their aging populations, an authoritative report has warned.
•"Age-related liabilities dwarf short-term issues such as the cost of fiscal stimulus [in the recession]," the report added. It estimated that the undisclosed cost of age-related spending in the UK is roughly 3.5 times the size of the UK economy – or around £5 trillion.
•Christian Mumenthaler, chief marketing officer at Swiss Re and a co-author, said cultural changes would be necessary. People will have to work longer, pay more towards age-related care and receive less in old age. In the European Union, 16pc of the population is currently above 65. Within 40 years, it will be 28pc, he added.
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Happy New Year!
As we prepare for 2011, it is important to be prepared more than ever for the future. There are numerous problems on the horizon which include very challenging - if not downright scary, economic times for most of the states and many cities.
More than ever, the citizen must be self-reliant. Many proposed state and city budgets include considerable cuts to police and fire. Therefore, if there is a natural disaster or a terrorist incident, the citizen must rely upon his own preparation, skills and diligence to protect their property and their family. Here are some websites that one might find useful:
You can read through the material on this site and form your own opinion. However, you can't disregard the vast amounts of knowledge available to you to prepare in whatever way you deem necessary. After all, it doesn't matter where you got the information to prepare for a natural disaster, as long as your family is safe.
Once again, you might find this site to be a little strange. All up to you and your opinion. However, you can find that some of these downloads are indeed very critical–depending upon your viewpoint about coming economic challenges, limited resources and stability of various local and state government. One thing for certain, is that knowledge will be king. It's better if you have these downloads and not need them, then need them and not have them.
Be Prepared
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The Mad Max Meter (or M3) is an indicator on a scale of 1 to 100 where every uptick heads toward the chaos and free-for-all madness of a Mad Max world. A disaster and chaotic world can rise in not only incidents, i.e., terrorist incident, natural disaster, etc., but also by increments.
Pulitzer-winning journalist Chris Hedges said in an exclusive interview. "It doesn't look good. But exactly how it plays out and when it plays out, having covered disintegrating societies, it's impossible to tell."
Pensions, underfunded pension liabilities and other public union debt is taking an increasing portion of the available tax revenue from city and state budgets. Eventually, the cities and states can't hammer the local property owners for more money so they draw from other programs. That's when they trot out the usual political banter of cutting 'police, fire, schools and letting criminals out of jail'. But why don't the politicians cut their own entitlements and publicize that? The political fodder would make a good story for them in trouble economic times and useful PR. Because they don't really want to cut their own golden egg.
Pensions eat up growing portion of city of Decatur's property tax revenue
In 2001, about 30 percent of the city's property tax levy went into paying down the pensions of its retired police and firefighters. In 2011, 70 percent of it will go toward pensions, even as recent years have seen cuts to other services that draw their funds from the same source, including the Decatur Public Library.
This year the library eliminated the Bookmobiles in the face of cuts exacted upon it by the city council.
Despite such austerity, costs continue to rise due to increasing unfunded liability, caused by higher-than-expected costs that must be paid off at a mandated minimum rate. According to city data, Decatur faced about $10 million in unfunded liabilities to its police and fire pension systems. In fiscal year 2011, the city's unfunded liabilities for police and fire pensions are expected to total about $80 million.
New York Has Underfunded Pension Liabilities of $120 Billion
City of Philadelphia Is Underfunded by $5Billion
New Jersey Democratic Run State Legislator Defrauds Investors in Municipal Bonds
Mad Max Meter: 17
Increase: +3
NOW: 20
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