Phoenix voters reject pension overhaul backed by billionaire

(Reuters) – “Voters in Phoenix have rejected a proposal, funded in part by a hedge fund billionaire, to convert the pension system for city workers to a 401k-style retirement plan favored by most U.S. private employers. 

“In a big victory for city labor unions, voters rejected Proposition 487 by a margin of 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent, according to results posted online by the Maricopa County Recorder/Elections Office.

“The measure proposed to end the city's traditional defined-benefit pension plan for new workers, shifting them to a plan dominant in the private sector, with employees pay a far greater share of the cost. Existing workers could have kept their current pensions.

“The initiative was one of this year's biggest test cases pushed by pension-reform advocates, including Texas billionaire and former Enron executive John Arnold, who have argued that traditional pension plans are an increasingly unaffordable burden for cash-strapped state and local governments…”

From Phoenix voters reject pension overhaul backed by billionaire 

Read also Hedge fund billionaire, John Arnold,unions trade blows in Phoenix pension fight by Tim Reid 

In Illinois: “TRS assets are held in trust and are invested for exclusive benefit of [defined-benefit] plan members.  The market value of assets increased to $45,824,382,514. during the year that ended on June 30, 2014 from the start of the fiscal year when the Teachers Retirement System had held $39,858,768,499.  TRS investments grew by 17.42% net of fees” (Bob Lyons, Elected TRS Annuitant).

Commentary: A Defined-Benefit Pension Plan 

1)  You cannot outlive your defined-benefit pension plan; you can outlive a 401 k plan or defined-contribution savings plan;
2) Your defined-benefit pension plan is more cost efficient than the defined-contribution savings plan;
3)  Your defined-benefit pension plan offers predictable, guaranteed monthly benefits for life;
4)  Funds are invested by professional asset managers in a diversified portfolio that follows long-term investment strategies;
5)  The large-pooled assets reduce asset management and miscellaneous fees;
6)  Your defined-benefit pension plan provides spousal (survivor) financial benefits;
7)  Your defined-benefit pension plan provides disability benefits;
8)  The state is responsible for funding, investment, inflationary and longevity risks;
9)  Because you are not affected by Market volatility, your defined-benefit pension plan is a more effective protection than the defined-contribution savings plan;
10) Because teachers understand the value of such a plan, they are willing to give up higher wages;
11) A defined-benefit plan encourages a long-term career and stable workforce;
12) Your defined-benefit pension plan provides you with self-sufficiency in retirement; it is associated with far fewer households that experience food privation, shelter adversity and health-care hardship;
13) Your defined-benefit pension plan is less expensive for taxpayers than Social Security – a reason why legislators, et al. had negotiated for Illinois teachers to not pay into Social Security;
14) The Teachers Retirement System of Illinois is the 39th largest in the U.S. with 366,000 members (2012) (TRS);
15) The average investment returns for TRS: 9.6% (1982-2012) (TRS);
16) Your defined-benefit pension plan has an economic impact of over $4 billion on Illinois; the effect on Gross Domestic Product is $2.38 billion; jobs that are created: 30,448 (Teachers Retirement System of Illinois, TRS);
17) Defined-benefit pension plans contribute over $100 billion to annual local, state, and federal revenue in the U.S. and provide capital to financial markets (NIRS).

Sources: the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois (TRS)

Watch the 13-minute 60 Minutes: 401k Recession segment, especially an interview of a lobbyist for the 401(k) industry named David Wray (who is also president of the profit-sharing 401(k) Council of America): “What kind of retirement plan allows millions of people to lose 30 to 50% of their life earnings?” Click here for video.

“To [Vote] or Not to [Vote]…”

Climate Change:

“…Cynical political abandonment allows the wrong people to control our government and decide whether climate mitigation is a national priority, or a "liberal conspiracy."

The Koch Brothers:

“…Voting overwhelmingly for candidates who are not funded by the Kochs will knock back these arrogant oligarch's attempt to simply buy our country and our future.

Right-Wing Fascist Take-Over:

“Whether you ‘believe’ in voting or not, the fascists will take over if we don't stop them at the ballot box. 

Democrats in Name Only (DINOs):

“…We can effectively challenge DINOs in the 2016 primaries when we support populist and progressive candidates rising up from the grassroots and essentially Occupying the Democrats. They need  us to help in their campaigns and to show up at the ballot box. Here are some resources to find and support better candidates:  DemocracyforAmerica.com. Progressive Democrats of America… Or vote for Green Party and Progressive Party candidates wherever they exist, especially if they are opposed to a DINO.

The Internet - Free and Fair or Co-Opted and Controlled:

“…We still have time to help prevent this by promoting and voting for candidates who support Net Neutrality.

Civil Rights, Electronic Privacy, NSA and the Dystopian Nightmare Future:

“…Issues that affect our most personal, intimate lives often get decided in public referendums or ballot initiatives.

Gay Rights, Marijuana Legalization, GMO Labeling:

“…If we stay home, we often lose by tragically narrow margins.

War:

“...War should have no place in our future. This is our choice.

Corporatocracy and Corruption vs. Democracy and Transparency:

“…How, in poetic essence, are they going to pull the stake from the heart of democracy driven in by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision; by ‘corporate personhood,’ by the shameful lack of support for public campaign financing; by unjust electoral rules, and by corporate lobbyists outright buying our representatives?

The Banksters, Corporate Welfare, Emergency Management and TRILLIONS in Looted Cash and Public Assets:

“…The next phase in this orgy of deception and national looting is ‘Corporate Emergency Management’ as seen in Detroit, where cities (usually minority) have their democratic government suspended and are forced into bankruptcy so their assets - including pensions - can be siphoned off to private interests…’

For the complete article, Top 10 Epic Reasons Why Americans Should Give a Sh*t about Voting by Victoria Collier and Ben-Zion Ptashnik

Without Pomp and Circumstance

Tell them I did not want a church and prayers,
that I believed what a Pulitzer Prize poet once wrote: 
“God knows nothing we don’t know.
We gave Him every word He ever used.”
 
Tell them I did not want a coffin and flowers either—
that rewind of god-awful dreariness and solemnity,
nor did I want collages or a slide show. Instead, 
share a few of my favorite poems  
and play some music, preferably performed,
and have lots of raucous laughter.
 

Let slip that I once kept a childhood charm,
not owing to superstition or religious belief,
but only because the Vatican had 
“Eternally released [Christopher’s] duty and sainthood” 
when they decided
he was more mythology than reality.

Be sure to tell them how much I loved irony.

Tell them moments are what we are,
that “life is but a day”
and to never “miss out on being alive 
in a world where everything is given, 
and nothing [is assured].”
 
But confess to them how I wanted to die
before my wife did, out of fear.
Tell them how I was terrified
of losing a child most of all,
the way some of my dear friends had lost theirs,
and how I worried about the harmful choices
my children sometimes made.
 
Divulge that dementia was in my family too,
if I had lived long enough
like my grandmother and father,
and how frightened I was about erasing
my identity by cyber crooks,
that it’s best to safeguard our money,
as long as “our heart is spent.”
 
Now, tell them how much I loved teaching
and it is through music, poetry
and philosophy…that show us how to be.

Tell them how much I loved to sing
and play Lightfoot and Young… on my guitars, 
and to listen to Chopin, Mozart and Bach, 
and how I loved the blues, and jazz—
when it’s bluesy—and reading  
Dunn, Collier and Djanikian, 
Hume and Camus...

Remind them how much I savored 
my books, handguns, and Lexuses
(as much as I craved dark chocolate)
and saving unsullied money—
things left behind to prove 
this dead collector lived comfortably.
 
And don’t forget to tell them how much
I loved caramel apples and apple fritters…
and, of course, my mother,
but not America’s hegemony, 
bigotry and hypocrisy.
 
Proclaim how much I loved my tabbies too,
my dearest friends and family,
and my beautiful selfless wife, Marilyn—
“Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”

And that nights filled with stars,
my mother’s Calabrian cooking
and sewing machine’s hum,
my baseball glove’s oily perfume
and the spring’s night air,
bright autumn days, the crow’s cawing,
the wind’s homily swishing through trees,
wind chimes and crunching through leaves
were warm memories of my childhood heart.

At long last, tell them it is old age
who arrives unannounced one day,
emptying its suitcase of inflictions.  
And death is the final costume we will all wear
and “nowhere but where it will occur”
and is not mine to keep,
because it will belong to you someday. 
 
After all, spin a short yarn, 
tell them I said something
unforgettable before I died,
but that you have since forgotten,
though you think I might have whispered
Beethoven’s last words:
“Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est”—
Applaud, my friends, for the comedy is finally over—
from my other poem about dying
and my wish to leave an éclat to posterity.

Or was it something else I might have said?
A cliché perhaps?
Like everything of value in life
is revealed through what we loved.