One Thing Congress Gets Right: Funding Their Own Pensions…
by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
ZeroHedge.com
Thu, 03/14/2019
Turns out Congressmen make a lot of money…
A study found that while the average American’s net worth increased 3.7% per year between 2004-2012, members of Congress averaged 15.4% annual gains.
That high level of pay means half the members of Congress are millionaires today… and continue to collect their $174,000 annual salary.
Of course it’s you, the taxpayer, paying that cushy salary.
But did you know the taxpayer also foots the bill for insane retirement benefits for Congress?
Each retired member can start collecting a pension at age 62 if they’ve spent just five years in Congress.
And they’ll collect 80% of their $174,000 annual salary.
That’s almost $140,000 a year, for the rest of their lives… for five years of service.
Where can I sign up?
Meanwhile, 40% of Americans can’t cover an unexpected $400 emergency expense… 57% have less than $1,000 in savings.
And a third of baby boomers—the generation currently retiring—have NOTHING put away for retirement.
While Congress’ pension is secured by your tax dollars, only 13% of regular Americans have pensions today. And even if you were promised one, collecting it is another story…
A recent Boston College report estimates 25% of private US pension funds—the pools of capital that pay out retirement benefits—will go bankrupt in the next decade. Public local, state, and federal pension funds are in even worse shape: $7 TRILLION short on what they promised to pay retired government workers.
But most Americans are relying on a different broken retirement fund… Social Security.
The Social Security Administration admits it is $50 trillion underfunded, and will run out of money by 2034.
That means cutting payouts, raising the retirement age, or both. And even that is only a short term solution…
There are, however, at least two Senators who see the injustice in all of this. They introduced legislation to eliminate pensions for members of Congress.
They say it’s not fair that while the poor get poorer, Congress gets richer.
The Rest…HERE
