CAFR: US agencies have billions, trillions in investments while crying budget deficits May 22, 7:46 PM LA County Nonpartisan Examiner Carl Herman
We hold these Truths to be self-evident...
Gerald Klatt and Walter Burien are unrecognized heroes. These individuals are national
leaders who have communicated how government agencies conceal American taxpayers’ money in surplus accounts that collectively total trillions of our dollars. The data is found in government agencies’ Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs). What CAFRs reveal is a communist-style policy whereby the US taxpayers surrender enormous assets to the state, who then ―invest‖ these collective trillions that swell in these accounts. Concurrently, taxpayers are informed of budget deficits to either squeeze more taxes from them and/or cut public services. To add insult to injury, the state lies in omission by never reminding Americans of their hard-earned and withheld trillions as they eliminate jobs, reduce education, and attack the quality of our lives. The American Constitution is a contract of limited government whereby the public informs and is informed by our representatives. CAFRs are damning public documents that expose ―leadership‖ from Left and Right as exactly what leading economic voices have said: an absolutely corrupt and self-serving oligarchy.
Let’s look at the economic data revealed in CAFRs. For example, California has a budget deficit of ~$20 billion. The combined investments of CAFRs for the state of CA, Los Angeles County, and the City of Los Angeles is over $450 billion; over 22 times the amount of the budget shortfall (documentation page numbers below).
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California claims they need this money mainly for public employee retirement benefits. Let’s check that story. The CAFR data shows current member contribution pays for all retiree benefits except for $1.8 billion (net cost). If just these three state agencies surrendered their withheld money back to the public instead of lording over it as communists, each Californian would receive ~$15,000. To pay for the shortfall in the retirement account, each individual could be taxed $50. Why has political ―leadership‖ and corporate media not informed American taxpayers of this option and publicly submitted this data for professional and independent economist cost-benefit analysis to provide other options? The answer to that question is also the answer to the question of how political "leadership" gets away with Orwellian unlawful wars. So far, we’re only considering three CAFRs in the state of California. The comprehensive reality is far more dramatic. If you combine all of California’s ~10,000 government agencies’ CAFRs, the combined total according to Walter Burien’s sampling analysis is $8 trillion. Let’s say Walter’s way-off. For argument’s sake, let’s say the total is less than half; only $3.5 trillion. If that was returned to the public, each Californian would receive $100,000. Walter says he’s confident in his documentation that every state has overtaxed and seized Americans’ hard-earned money in outrageous sums. Obviously, we need independent auditing of all state CAFRs and independent economic cost-benefit analyses to make our choices clear of how the public benefit is best served. Californians oppressed under a $20 billion dollar budget deficit that cuts essential public services while not considering taxpayers’ trillions ―invested‖ in our names is among the worst choices imaginable. It’s criminal. It’s Orwellian. To put this into an analogy, I’ve modified the one used by Walter: This is like a juvenile claiming he needs money because his front pants pocket is empty, which he dutifully shows (budget). What he's not telling you is that his back pockets have over 100 times the money he says he "needs" (shown in various places of the CAFRs). Whenever he's asked about the money in his back pockets, which he never volunteers in discussing his empty front pocket and never invites for consideration to move some into the front pocket, he says, "Oh, that money is designated for other uses. I can't touch that." So far, the silence of corporate media and political leadership from Left and Right has brought us to today. Of course, "I can't touch that" is a lie of omission because it can be touched the moment policy changes. So the real issue is the heart of economics: what are the costs and benefits of different choices? 2
Here’s the specific data and documentation: California pension and ―other‖ trusts investments total $367 billion. Net pension benefits payable from that $367 billion in 2009 was $1.8 billion (retiree payouts minus current member contributions). Subtracting other liabilities ($48 billion in securities lending obligations that seemed to be borrowed from retirement fundspage 212), the state of California is holding onto over $300 billion of the public’s money that could be used for other purposes (pages 48, 49 of the report). The misleading information on pages 154-155 suggests retirement funds are not fully funded. However: over $300 billion is held in investments for $1.8 billion in net benefits. How many votes do you think our present policy would receive from the California public given the alternative of receiving ~$15,000 now and paying a $50 tax every year. The investments: $143 billion in ―equity securities‖ (stocks), $92 billion in debt securities (page 83-84). $72 billion is dependent upon foreign markets (page 88). The UC system had a budget deficit for this ending school year of $0.65 billion. The policy response was to deny 2,300 students enrollment, lay-off over 2,000 faculty and staff, furlough teaching days and cut 10% salaries, and raise tuition by 32%. For less than one-third of one percent of the investment total of California, UC would have been fully-funded and those reductions eliminated. California’s 20,000 laid-off teachers could be rehired at $70,000/year for $3.4 billion; less than 1% of these three CAFR ―investments‖ total. One cost of this deception: Governor Schwarzenegger announced a 41 percent cut for the 2010 budget in "general government" services including elimination of CALWORKS (welfare to work and child-care program, which will affect 1.4 million people, two thirds of them children), and sharp decreases in health and welfare programs for single mothers, low-income children, foster youth, the disabled, and senior citizens. Los Angeles County has $52 billion in investments (pages 61-63), the City of Los Angeles has $36 billion (page 80). Both have drastically cut programs. Both have pension plans underfunded by current members by less than 2% of their investment totals. Below is Walter Burien’s 10-minute introduction to his video explanation of CAFRs. Walter claims that investments are only the most obvious section where CAFRs reveal hidden public money in plain sight; other areas include advanced forward liabilities accounts (overestimates and/or retained money for far-distant projects), states buying their own debt, profits from state-run enterprises (like recycling), and possible other areas requiring full and independent audits to discover. WATCH WALTER BURIEN’S 10 MINUTE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRJZoceF0vQ&feature=player_embedded
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http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m5d22-CAFR-US-agencies-have-billionstrillions-in-investments-while-crying-budget-deficits
Oregon legislator reads CAFR, finds billions, ends budget deficit crisis;
California can do same! June 11, 3:45 PM
LA County Nonpartisan Examiner
Carl Herman
We hold these Truths to be self-evident...
The 2-minute video below shows an Oregon legislator appropriately outraged to discover the Orwellian lie of omission that his state has available assets valued over ten times the budget deficit. These funds are "unreserved, undesignated fund balance," meaning that they have no restrictions for use. This is true in every state; documented in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). When Democratic and Republican ―leadership‖ states public goods and services MUST be cut because of budget deficits, the lies become ones of commission. I fully explain this situation in the following from my article, ―CAFR: UC budget fully funded with one-fifth of one percent of state of CA “investments”: California’s political ―leadership‖ of both parties have lied in omission by failing to discuss California’s investments of $367 billion (page 48) as a possible source of funding for the ~$20 billion budget deficit. Ethical politicians would have presented the facts for professional and independent economic cost-benefit analysis to communicate choices to the tax-paying public. ―Leadership‖ claims that this money is necessary to leave alone in order to pay mainly for public employee retirement benefits. Let’s check that story. California’s 4
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) shows current member contribution pays for all retiree benefits except for $1.8 billion (also pages 48 and 49). This means that Republican and Democratic ―leaders‖ say they need to extract and hold over $367 billion from the taxpayers in order to pay for a cost of one-half of one percent of OUR money they took from us. These ―leaders‖ are lying sacks of spin. Our leaders have lied in omission and use obfuscating language for our collective money that then become what author Ellen Brown calls, ―Stagnant pools of government money.‖ I also looked at the CAFRs for Los Angeles County ($52 billion in investments; pages 61-63) and the City of Los Angeles ($36 billion; page 80). Both have drastically cut programs. Both have pension plans underfunded by current members by less than 2% of their investment totals. California has a budget deficit of ~$20 billion. The combined investments of CAFRs for the state of CA, Los Angeles County, and the City of Los Angeles is over $450 billion; over 22 times the amount of the budget shortfall. If just these three state agencies surrendered their withheld money back to the public instead of lording over it as communists, each Californian would receive ~$15,000. To pay for the $1.8 billion shortfall in the retirement account, each individual could be taxed $50. But wait. So far, we’re only considering three CAFRs in the state of California. The comprehensive reality is far more dramatic. If you combine all of California’s ~10,000 government agencies’ CAFRs, the combined total according to Walter Burien’s sampling analysis is $8 trillion. Let’s say Walter’s way-off. For argument’s sake, let’s say the total is less than half; only $3.5 trillion. If that was returned to the public, each Californian would receive $100,000. Walter says he’s confident in his documentation that every state has a similar structure that has overtaxed and seized Americans’ hard-earned money. His solution is to have this invested money actually benefit the public by having dividend returns pay for government budgets. If government agencies divested their investments, the market value of the investments would plummet. He explains his solution in the radio interview below. Obviously, we need independent auditing of all state CAFRs and independent economic cost-benefit analyses to make our choices clear of how the public benefit is best served. Californians oppressed under a $20 billion dollar budget deficit that cuts essential public services while not considering taxpayers’ trillions ―invested‖ in our names is among the worst choices imaginable. To put this into an analogy, I’ve modified the one used by Walter:
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This is like a juvenile claiming he needs money because his front pants pocket is empty, which he dutifully shows (budget). What he's not telling you is that his back pockets have over 100 times the money he says he "needs" (shown in various places of the CAFRs). Whenever he's asked about the money in his back pockets, which he never volunteers in discussing his empty front pocket and never invites for consideration to move some into the front pocket, he says, "Oh, that money is designated for other uses. I can't touch that." So far, the silence of corporate media and political leadership from Left and Right has brought us to today. Of course, "I can't touch that" is a lie of omission because it can be touched the moment policy changes. So the real issue is the heart of economics: what are the costs and benefits of different choices? The fact that the public isn’t aware that their tax money is available and corporate media doesn’t report it points to corporate media collusion. Corporate media disinformation for cartels like our banking industry is documented in two resources, academic and a call to citizen action: Open proposal to US higher education: end oligarchy economics, save trillions with education Government by dicts: my comprehensive resources to prove US fascism and rigged-casino economics Thanks to the Jubilee Report for the heads-up about Oregon! This is not the first time Oregon has been directly advised of this problem and not directed public money for public benefit; see this. http://rss.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m6d11-Oregon-legislator-reads-CAFRfinds-billions-ends-budget-deficit-crisis-California-can-do-same
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Secretary of State's Office Finds $3.3 billion in Available Funds! Submitted by gregleo on Mon, 2010-01-11 11:21
Senate Republican Office Oregon State Capitol FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New state financial report details $3.3 billion in available funds Salem, OR – Oregon’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) released by the Secretary of State’s office last week states that more than $3.3 billion in ―unreserved, undesignated fund balance… was available for spending [1].‖ A budget plan pushed by Senate Republicans calls for $133 million from those balances to help finance this cycle’s budget in a way that protects the economy and preserves important services. ―We can protect important government services and Oregon’s economy by using the money already at the state’s disposal,‖ said Senator Chris Telfer (R-Bend). ―This report confirms that there are billions of dollars for use at the legislature’s discretion. We should use a small portion of this money to protect K-12 classrooms, higher education, services for the disabled and public safety.‖ The CAFR, prepared by the State Controller’s Division at the Department of Administrative Services to analyze the position of the Oregon’s fiscal affairs, states: “As of June 30, 2009, the State’s governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $4.4 billion. Of this amount, approximately 25.1 percent was reserved for nonspendable items, such as inventories and permanent fund principal, or for specific purposes, such as debt service. The remainder was classified as unreserved, undesignated fund balance and was available for spending, subject to statutory and constitutional spending constraints.”[1] Since by definition lawmakers write statute, any statutory constraints can be addressed. ―This is money that has piled up in agencies from over-collected fees and it is revenue that has not been expended as scheduled,‖ said Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day). ―These are taxpayer dollars that should never be left stranded in the bureaucracy, but shifted to pay for services Oregonians need. If we use this money wisely, we can leave the economy to grow and recover.‖ Senate Republicans have announced a budget proposal for the February session, saying that there are ways to balance the budget without increasing unemployment or drastically cutting services in the midst of a historic recession. See an outline of the budget here:
http://www.backtobasicsbudget.com/images/Back_to_Basics_Budget.pdf http://www.oregonrepublicanparty.org/node/291
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CAFR: UC budget fully funded with one-fifth of one percent of State of California “investments” May 24, 7:58 AM
LA County Nonpartisan Examiner
Carl Herman
The immense power behind the central banking system controls our lives.
The UC system had a budget deficit for this ending school year of $0.65 billion. The policy response was to deny 2,300 students enrollment, lay-off over 2,000 faculty and staff, furlough teaching days and cut 10% salaries, and raise tuition by 32%. For less than one-fifth of one percent of the investment total of California, UC would have been fully-funded and those reductions eliminated. This was a point in my previous CAFR article; I’m highlighting it here and invite you to fully understand the data. The meaning of the data is that our economic crisis has been intentionally created by our political ―leaders‖ and propagandized by corporate media. Knowledge of the data empowers citizens to end the crisis, fully investigate the criminals who caused it, and implement the obvious economic solutions that unleash trillions of dollars worth of Americans’ productivity every year for our maximum benefit and enjoyment. Actually, because complicity in corruption is so deep, the probable best policy response is Truth and Reconciliation to exchange full factual disclosure and return of public assets for no prosecution. What isn’t disclosed within a time window is subject to criminal and civil prosecution. The purpose of this strategy is for those willing to have a ―Scrooge conversion‖ to become powerful partners of humanity for cooperation, justice, dignity and freedom for all. Their information is vital to conclusive and rapid end of American criminal political and economic oligarchs. California’s political ―leadership‖ of both parties have lied in omission by failing to discuss California’s investments of $367 billion (page 48) as a possible source of funding for the ~$20 billion budget deficit. Ethical politicians would have presented the 8
facts for professional and independent economic cost-benefit analysis to communicate choices to the tax-paying public. But ours have failed in their primary duty to represent the public good, and will soon have to explain the facts. ―Leadership‖ claims that this money is necessary to leave alone in order to mainly for public employee retirement benefits. Let’s check that story. California’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) shows current member contribution pays for all retiree benefits except for $1.8 billion (also pages 48 and 49). This means that Republican and Democratic ―leaders‖ say they need to extract and hold over $367 billion from the taxpayers in order to pay for a cost of one-half of one percent of OUR money they took from us. These ―leaders‖ are lying sacks of spin. My favorite definition of the word, ―evil‖ is ―preference for one’s own material gain over the well-being of others.‖ Our leaders have been evil to steal the public’s money through obfuscating language as ―investments‖ that then serve as what author Ellen Brown calls, ―Stagnant pools of government money.‖ I also looked at the CAFRs for Los Angeles County ($52 billion in investments; pages 61-63) and the City of Los Angeles ($36 billion; page 80). Both have drastically cut programs. Both have pension plans underfunded by current members by less than 2% of their investment totals. California has a budget deficit of ~$20 billion. The combined investments of CAFRs for the state of CA, Los Angeles County, and the City of Los Angeles is over $450 billion; over 22 times the amount of the budget shortfall. If just these three state agencies surrendered their withheld money back to the public instead of lording over it as communists, each Californian would receive ~$15,000. To pay for the $1.8 billion shortfall in the retirement account, each individual could be taxed $50. But wait. So far, we’re only considering three CAFRs in the state of California. The comprehensive reality is far more dramatic. If you combine all of California’s ~10,000 government agencies’ CAFRs, the combined total according to Walter Burien’s sampling analysis is $8 trillion. Let’s say Walter’s way-off. For argument’s sake, let’s say the total is less than half; only $3.5 trillion. If that was returned to the public, each Californian would receive $100,000. Walter says he’s confident in his documentation that every state has a similar structure that has overtaxed and seized Americans’ hard-earned money. His solution is to have this invested money actually benefit the public by having dividend returns pay for government budgets. If government agencies divested their investments, the market value of the investments would plummet. He explains his solution in the radio interview below.
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Obviously, we need independent auditing of all state CAFRs and independent economic cost-benefit analyses to make our choices clear of how the public benefit is best served. Californians oppressed under a $20 billion dollar budget deficit that cuts essential public services while not considering taxpayers’ trillions ―invested‖ in our names is among the worst choices imaginable. To put this into an analogy, I’ve modified the one used by Walter: This is like a juvenile claiming he needs money because his front pants pocket is empty, which he dutifully shows (budget). What he's not telling you is that his back pockets have over 100 times the money he says he "needs" (shown in various places of the CAFRs). Whenever he's asked about the money in his back pockets, which he never volunteers in discussing his empty front pocket and never invites for consideration to move some into the front pocket, he says, "Oh, that money is designated for other uses. I can't touch that." So far, the silence of corporate media and political leadership from Left and Right has brought us to today. Of course, "I can't touch that" is a lie of omission because it can be touched the moment policy changes. So the real issue is the heart of economics: what are the costs and benefits of different choices? CAFRs reveal a communist-style policy whereby US taxpayers surrender enormous assets to the state, who then ―invest‖ these collective trillions that swell in these accounts. Concurrently, taxpayers are informed of budget deficits to either squeeze more taxes from them and/or cut public services. To add insult to injury, the state lies in omission by never reminding Americans of their hard-earned and withheld trillions of their dollars as they eliminate jobs, reduce education, and attack the quality of Americans’ lives. The American Constitution is a contract of limited government whereby the public informs and is informed by our representatives. CAFRs are damning public documents that expose ―leadership‖ from Left and Right as exactly what leading economic voices have said: an absolutely corrupt and self-serving oligarchy. Below is Walter Burien’s 70-minute radio interview with Coast-to-Coast host, George Noory from January 6, 2010. Walter claims that investments are only the most obvious section where CAFRs reveal hidden public money in plain sight; other areas include advanced forward liabilities accounts (overestimates and/or retained money for far-distant projects), states buying their own debt, profits from state-run enterprises (like recycling), and possible other areas requiring full and independent audits to discover. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0R_M0f8GQ4&feature=player_embedded http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m5d22CAFR-US-agencies-have-billions-trillions-in-investments-while-crying-budget-deficits
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Watch the video: Walter Burien Explains The Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports on Alex Jones TV 1/6 May 26, 2010 — Alex talks with Walter Burien, an advocate for government fiscal accountability and budgeting. Burien's documentary, The Biggest Game in Town, exposes government theft behind Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. I’ve also included an interview with Bob Chapman from the International Forecaster who explains why our public pension funds are at risk. Be sure the auto play feature is checked so the segments advance automatically. WATCH THE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F19C7D50E4F0AD4C
Get your copy of the State of California – CAFR Reports Online http://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cafr.html 2009 - http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/cafr08web.pdf 2008 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/cafr08web.pdf 2007 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/cafr07.pdf 2006 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/cafr06.pdf 2005 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/2005_cafr05.pdf 2004 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/2004_cafr04.pdf 2003 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/2003_cafr03.pdf 2002 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CAFR/2002_cafr02.pdf 2001 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cafr_2001.html 2000 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cafr_2000.html 1999 = http://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cafr_1999.html
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Older State of CA CAFR Reports not available as a PDF 1999
Contents
Introductory Section Transmittal Letter
Financial Section Independent Auditor's Report General Purpose Financial Statements Notes to the Financial Statements Required Supplementary Information
Combining Financial Statements and Schedules Special Revenue Funds Capital Projects Funds Enterprise Funds Internal Service Funds Trust and Agency Funds Expendable Trust Funds
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Pension Trust Funds Agency Funds General Fixed Assets Account Group Component Units — Special Purpose Authorities Statistical Section Acknowledgements
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
2000
2000
Contents
Introductory Section Transmittal Letter
Financial Section Independent Auditor's Report General Purpose Financial Statements Notes to the Financial Statements Required Supplementary Information
Combining Financial Statements and Schedules 13
Special Revenue Funds Capital Projects Funds Enterprise Funds Internal Service Funds Trust and Agency Funds Expendable Trust Funds Pension Trust Funds Agency Funds General Fixed Assets Account Group Component Units — Special Purpose Authorities Statistical Section Acknowledgements
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
2001
Contents
Introductory Section Transmittal Letter
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2001
Financial Section Independent Auditor's Report General Purpose Financial Statements Notes to the Financial Statements Required Supplementary Information
Combining Financial Statements and Schedules Special Revenue Funds Capital Projects Funds Enterprise Funds Internal Service Funds Trust and Agency Funds Expendable Trust Funds Pension Trust Funds Agency Funds General Fixed Assets Account Group Component Units — Special Purpose Authorities Statistical Section Acknowledgements
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Additional CAFR Reports California State Teachers' Retirement System CAFR http://www.calstrs.com/Help/forms_publications/printed/CurrentCAFR/CAFR.aspx
http://www.calstrs.com/help/forms_publications/printed/CurrentCAFR/cafr_2009.pdf
AND CalPers Comprehensive Annual Financial Report June 30, 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2009 Operations Summary
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
June 30. 2008 Operations Summary
June 30, 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
June 30, 2007 Operations Summary
June 30, 2006 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
June 30, 2006 Operations Summary
June 30, 2005 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
June 30, 2005 Operations Summary
June 30, 2004 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2004 Operations Summary
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2003 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Available for Download Only
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June 30, 2003 Operations Summary
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2002 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Available for Download Only
June 30, 2001 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Available for Download Only
https://www.calpers.ca.gov
County of Sacramento CAFR http://www.finance.saccounty.net/Auditor/Rpts.asp
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
For For For For For
the the the the the
Fiscal Fiscal Fiscal Fiscal Fiscal
Year Year Year Year Year
Ended Ended Ended Ended Ended
June June June June June
30, 30, 30, 30, 30,
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
City of Sacramento CAFR - Financial Reporting http://www.cityofsacramento.org/finance/accounting/reporting.cfm Article IX of the City Charter requires the City Manager to engage an independent certified public accounting firm to examine and report to the City Council on the annual financial statements of the city. Various financing covenants and regulations associated with restricted funding sources also require the City to publish a complete set of audited financial statements presented in conformance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The City's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) meets these requirements. CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2009 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2008 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2007 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2006 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2005 (PDF)
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CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2004 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2003 (PDF) CAFR Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2002 (PDF) Also see: The City Treasurer's Listing of Official Statements 2001 to Current.
CAFR Attachments 2009 Report to Council (PDF) 2009 Single Audit Report (PDF) 2008 Report to Council (PDF) 2008 Single Audit Report (PDF)
Also see Understanding CAFR’s: http://cafr1.com/ and http://taxretirement.com/
Quotable Quotes: The CAFR is perhaps the largest scam in world history This is a banking cartel plan to efficiently and silently move wealth from the middle class into the banking class. The 401k and retirement account systems utilize these "investments" portfolios to leverage the collective wealth. Of course they always say it’s "for the good of the many" or "by combining the wealth we can make more". No, it simply means the banks have more monopoly money to play with while we are all going broke and losing our houses. This is perhaps the pinnacle of the problems we have in this country. S. Ackley rhawk301@gmail.com
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell
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"There exists in this country a plot to enslave every man woman and child. Before I leave this high and noble office, I intend to expose this plot." - President John F. Kennedy - 7 days before he was assassinated.
JOHN F. KENNEDY APRIL 27, 1961 SPEECH The President and the Press: American Newspaper Publishers Association Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York Excerpt The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it’s in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know. To review entire speech:
http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com/transcripts/JFK_Video_Speech.html
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