Even More Clueless in Washington D.C.

See my post THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010 No Teamsters' Pension Fund Bail Out!

What does Christopher S. Murphy Member of Congress say in response to my concerns ... Nothing just the usual "robo response". Clearly democracy at it best. 

 

October 20, 2010

Dear Mr. Chotkowski,

Thank you for contacting me about financial services issues. I appreciate your correspondence and hope that you find this response helpful.

Although we're no longer in the economic freefall the country experienced for much of 2008 and 2009, our financial system and housing market remains on precarious footing. The recent nationwide freezes in foreclosure proceedings by many of the nation's largest banks are a testament to the severe problems our economy still faces on the road to recovery. While we've taken some important steps forward in the last year toward rehabilitating our financial system, we still have a long way to go towards holding both banks and federal regulators accountable. 

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which became law earlier this year, included some important protections for consumers. The bill imposes limits on the debit-card transaction fees that banks charge merchants and retailers for using the system, protecting consumers from hidden fees that drive up the cost of everyday purchases. The legislation will strengthen the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – which ensures consumer bank accounts – by ensuring that the FDIC has the necessary capital to reimburse depositors when a bank fails. 

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will also take important steps to require greater accountability from major financial institutions by requiring banks to "spin off" their risky derivatives desks into separate affiliates, so that commercial banking activities are distinct and protected from more speculative trading operations. The bill also provides regulation of the risky over-the-counter derivatives market for the first time, requiring many derivatives to be traded on exchanges and routed through clearinghouses and subject to new capital, margin, reporting, and record keeping requirements – bringing them into the daylight of regulatory scrutiny. The bill will also hold federal regulatory agencies to a higher standard as well, requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve's unprecedented emergency lending programs and disclosure of details of loans it made (and is making) to banks.

Still, we have more work to do. We have to make sure that employers and pension funds aren't unfairly depriving retirees of the benefits they spent lifetimes working for, and that insurance companies are gouging consumers when it comes to home insurance and other basic financial products. We need to rehabilitate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and get them off of taxpayer assistance, ensuring that are returned to financial health without an implicit government guarantee of future support. And we need to make sure that the housing market can fully stabilize, so that families can benefit from the true value of their largest asset. 

We've got work to do, and I appreciate you making your voice heard. I can't do this job without your input. Thank you again for writing. In the future, please do not hesitate to call at (202) 225-4476 or contact me through my website at www.chrismurphy.house.gov, where you can sign up to receive updates through MurphMail, my electronic newsletter.

Every Best Wish,

Christopher S. Murphy
Member of Congress

Clueless in Washington D.C.

See my post THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010 No Teamsters' Pension Fund Bail Out!

What does United States Senator Joseph I. Lieberman say in response to my concerns ... Nothing just the usual "robo response". Clearly democracy at it best.
October 20, 2010

 

Dear Mr. Chotkowski:

 

Thank you for contacting me in support of greater protections for private sector retiree pension benefits.  I am pleased to hear from you on this issue.

I appreciate and understand your concern about the reduction of retiree pension benefits through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).  This is an issue which has been negatively impacting retirees in Connecticut and the rest of the United States over the last decade.  Although Congress, with my support, approved the Pension Protection Act (PPA; P.L. 109-280) in 2006 to ensure that firms are adequately funding retiree benefit plans, Congress may need to revisit this issue given the additional stresses to the pension system that have worsened since the current recession began. 

As you may know, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation, the Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act (S. 3157), to assist multi-employer defined benefit pension plans.  This bill would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to:  (1) permit multi-employer pension plans to merge or form alliances with other plans; (2) increase PBGC guarantees for insolvent plans to increase participant benefits; and (3) increase the annual premium rate payable to PBGC for each individual who is a participant of a multi-employer plan from $8 to $16 after December 31, 2010.  S. 3157 is currently pending consideration before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

I understand your anxiety about the sustainability of retiree benefits, particularly given the current state of the economy.  Please be assured that I will keep your specific views in mind when legislation regarding retiree benefit security comes before the Senate.  To keep track of the progress of S. 3157, you can click on the “Track a Bill” button at http://lieberman.senate.gov/.

           

Thank you again for sharing your views and concerns with me.  I hope you will continue to visit http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation.  Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.

 

Sincerely,

Joseph I. Lieberman

UNITED STATES SENATOR

 

JIL:kht

No Teamsters' Pension Fund Bail Out!

Sen. Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) proposed bail out of the Teamsters’ Retirement Pension Fund is unconscionable!  The Teamsters’ should be at the same moral hazard as every other retiree under the current rules of the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (“PBGC”).

NO TAXPAYER MONEY SHOULD BE SPENT TO FUND THESE OUTRAGOUS BENEFITS!

I work hard to feed, cloth, and educate my children and with what little is left over after the confiscatory federal, state, and local taxes that have been imposed, I try to save for retirement.  The Ponzi scheme called Social Security is going broke, making in more important than ever to save for one’s own retirement.

Less than 8% of Americans belong to unions and even less to the Teamsters!  Inflated promises, gross underfunding, near criminal miss-management, greed, trade policy, energy issues and an evolving economy caused many of theses company’s and their Teamsters’ sponsored pension plans to go broke. The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp was established in 1974, as the insurer of last resort to deal with these issues – not the US Government!

According to its web site, “PBGC pays monthly retirement benefits, up to a guaranteed maximum, to nearly 744,000 retirees in 4000 pension plans that ended. PBGC is responsible for the current and future pensions of about 1,476,000 people.” Unsurprisingly, PBGC already is more than $20 billion in the red — which is to say, the insurer who is supposed to cover you when your pension fund cannot cover its obligations cannot cover their obligations — and its own analysis suggests it will be $34 billion short by 2019. So first we bail out the Teamsters, establishing the precedent, and next we bail out everyone covered by the PBGC. 

Why should 92% plus of Americans pay increased taxes so that the "storm-troopers” of the Progress movement get bought off!  NO PUBLIC FUNDING TO BAIL OUT THE ALREADY FAILED TEAMSTERS PENSION PLANS.  PBGC sinks or swims on its own merits.  For years regulators have resisted increasing insurance premiums to levels deemed necessary to cover the predicted risk of insured pension plan failures.  Why, because if government mandated insurance rates increased to the levels necessary, it was assumed that more employers [mostly union shops] would drop employer sponsored defined benefit pension plans in favor of plans like 401(k)s.  Such a change was contrary to the Democrat party’s and its union supporters’ social agenda.  So everyone ducked the issues, kicked the can down the road, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. 

DO NOT support the Casey / Pomeroy legislation that would commit taxpayers’ dollars to bailing out the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund.

Stop spending, reduce taxes and shrink the size of the federal government – NOW!  Congress in particular and elected representatives in general, you have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting - 11.02.10 is the day of reckoning.