Sunday, January 23, 2005
Jeb, Arnold Trying State Pension-Fund Grabs in Florida and California
If anyone doesn't think that the Bush/Cato wing of the Republican party isn't planning to trash our state and Federal pension systems, think again. Jeb Bush is moving to privatize Medicaid in Florida while Schwarzenegger is moving to privatize the California pension system. Arnold wants to replace the Calpers pension system with yet another privatized 401k style system. I can't speak about Florida's pension plan, but Calpers is one of the strongest and most successful pension systems in the world. With the stock market down in the past three years the state has had to put more into the fund to keep the system properly funded. Arnie is taking advantage of the recent slump to claim there's a big crisis. Of course, there is no crisis. The system is one of the most sound on the planet. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Basically the Bushistas and Republicans seem to feel that when they're in power they have the duty and the right to break open the publically funded piggy banks and disburse the treasures to their friends on Wall Street. We should, now that we have the national privatization efforts on the ropes, redouble our efforts -- and also help out Cali and Florida.
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