US PENSION INSURER RUNS RECORD $34B DEFICIT

Who will bailout this federal agency? Obama promised no more taxpayer-funded bailouts so it looks like these federal employees are screwed (they make more than those in the private sector so screw them).

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency that insures pensions for more than 40 million Americans last year ran the widest deficit in its 38-year history.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Friday that its deficit grew to $34 billion for the budget year that ended Sept. 30. That compares with a $26 billion shortfall in the previous year.

Pension obligations grew by $12 billion to $119 billion last year. Assets used to cover those obligations increased by only $4 billion to $85 billion.

The agency has now run deficits for 10 straight years. The gap has grown wider in recent years because the weak economy has triggered more corporate bankruptcies and failed pension plans.

If the trend continues, the agency could struggle to pay benefits without an infusion of taxpayer funds.

Agency Director Josh Gotbaum said continued deficits “will ultimately threaten” the PBGC’s ability to pay pension benefits to retired workers.

“There’s no imminent threat that we’re going to stop cutting checks,” Gotbaum said during a conference call with reporters. However, he said, Congress must act “long before 10 years from now” to increase the insurance premiums that companies pay to the agency.

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House Ways and Means Chairman Demands Delphi Pension Termination Documents from Obama Administration

Romney should get all 20,000 Delphi non-unionized employees to be in a political ad that tells Americans what Timothy Geithner and President Obama did to their pensions and health care benefits. It also needs to be pointed out that Obama’s ex car czar ducked Inspector General’s questions for almost three years before ratting out Team Obama. Obama’s first car czar, Steven Rattner, already spilled his guts on this fraud.

We have learned from the SIGTARP report, and Obama’s car czars, that Team Obama used politics to close GM dealerships in Republican districts. The regime changed bankruptcy laws to reward union workers over GM shareholders. They fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner, due to his severance package, and installed Whitacre who had zero experience in the automotive field. They sacked the pensions of non union Delphi workers but made sure UAW union worker kept their benefits. We learned that David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel were heavily involved with these political decisions.

From DC:

Republican House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp demanded Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury Department and the Obama administration release records connected to an emerging scandal surrounding autoworker pensions terminated during the auto bailout. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the Treasury Department axed pensions in 2009 for 20,000 non-union salaried retirees who worked for Delphi.

Those workers’ pension plans lost between 30 and 70 percent of their value, while similar plans covering members of the United Auto Workers and other labor unions were preserved and made whole.

Camp fired off letters to PBGC director Josh Gotbaum, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, asking for dosuments by September 7. His committee seeks internal documents and communications relating to the decision-making process that resulted in those pension losses for non-union Delphi retirees.

From the PBGC, Camp demanded Gotbaum provide “all records, including but not limited to electronic mail to or from PBGC, the Departments of Treasury, Labor and Commerce and the Executive Office of the President of the United States” that relate to Delphi and General Motors’ interest in Delphi “for the period of January 1 through December 31, 2009.”

He demanded similar documents from Geithner and Ruemmler.

“Treasury has claimed in testimony and court filings that it had no substantial role in the decision to deny 20,000 salaried retirees of Delphi the full pension they were promised and worked hard to earn,” Camp wrote in his letters to the high-ranking officials. “However, documents obtained from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and recently published raise questions about the full extent of Treasury’s involvement in the decisions that ultimately picked winners and losers among Delphi’s retirees.”

A House Ways and Means committee press release cited an Aug. 7 story in The Daily Caller that included internal PBGC emails showing senior White House and Treasury officials were behind the pension terminations.

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Obama’s Socialist Ex-Car Czar Agrees to Stop Ducking Inspector General’s Questions About Obama’s Union Favoritism in Auto Bailouts

Most know Obama rewarded his union goons with the auto bailouts. The stock holders got screwed as the UAW got $$$. This explains why Obama’s socialist car czar, Ron Bloom, has ducked questioning by the SIGTARP Inspector General about the union favoritism investigation. I should point out that Obama’s first car czar, Steven Rattner, already ratted on Obama and said Obama was out to get the car companies.

From DC:

President Barack Obama’s former auto industry adviser and two former Treasury Department officials cracked at the last minute before a House oversight committee subcommittee hearing and agreed to stop stonewalling an investigation into alleged union favoritism during the administration’s General Motors bailout. Ron Bloom, Obama’s former auto czar, and former Treasury officials Matt Feldman and Harry Wilson have refused to give interviews to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) about their roles in topping up pensions for union workers while non-union workers lost nearly their entire pensions.

The Treasury Department’s actions during the auto bailout caused 20,000 non-union workers from Delphi to lose most of their pensions. Delphi, a GM company, is one of the largest automotive parts manufacturers in the world. Its workers lost their pensions when the government bailed out GM. While those non-union Delphi workers lost nearly their entire pensions, United Auto Workers union members’ pensions were topped off and made whole.

While Feldman, Bloom and Wilson have maintained they think no preferential treatment was given to the unions during the bailout, emails The Daily Caller obtained in June 2011 show senior officials corresponding with senior GM officials on how to make certain decisions regarding who was going to win and who was going to lose. The three former Obama auto bailout officials had, according to TARP’s Special Inspector General Christy Romero, refused to give interviews to auditors about their role in the decision-making process. “These individuals’ refusal to speak to SIGTARP poses a significant obstacle to SIGTARP’s ability to complete its audit and to taxpayers gaining a full understanding of the discussions and considerations involved in GM’s decision,” Romero said in her prepared congressional testimony.

At the last minute before the hearing, Feldman, Bloom and Wilson agreed that they’d sit down for interviews with SIGTARP auditors. Continue reading>>>

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Are Teachers Overpaid? (Video)

H/T to Reason.tv

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Postal Service reports $8 billion in losses

Does anyone remember that dumbass Obama analogy about the Post Office where Obama screwed up by admitting that the private sector (FedEx, UPS) is more efficient than the public sector (Post Office)?

That awesome government-run Post Office lost $8 billion in 2010.

The Washington Times reports:

The U.S. Postal Service on Friday reported more than $8 billion in losses for the 2010 fiscal year while noting that mail volume continues to drop.

The postal service’s chief financial officer, Joe Corbett, said despite $9 billion in cost savings over the past two years and the elimination of more than 100,000 jobs, fundamental changes are needed in how the mail system works.

“We will continue our relentless efforts to innovate and improve efficiency,” he said. “However, the need for changes to legislation, regulations and labor contracts has never been more obvious.”

Among the changes the Postal Service is seeking is the ability to cut Saturday mail delivery.

Overall, First Class Mail volume continues to drop, a troubling trend because that accounts for more than half of the Postal Service’s revenue, according to postal officials.

First Class Mail dropped 6.6 percent in 2010, 8.6 percent in 2009 and 4.8 percent in 2008.

In announcing the financial results Friday, officials also said that questions remain about the Postal Service’s ability to make a $5.5 billion payment to prefund retiree health benefits. That’s a congressional mandate postal officials have long argued is onerous.

Frederic V. Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, agreed. He said the announcement about the Postal Service’s finances comes as no surprise and underscores the need for changes.

“For the Postal Service to improve its financial situation, the government must let USPS manage its financial affairs in the most effective manner possible like any other business,” he said.

“Essential to that process would be for Congress to fix an onerous congressional mandate from 2006, which obligates the Postal Service to make annual payments of $5.5 billion to prefund future retiree health benefits.,” Mr. Rolando said. “No other institution in America, public or private, has to do this.”

No, the Post Office wants the taxpayers to be responsible for their lavish retirement benefits and pensions. This is why a lot of states are going bankrupt…employee pensions and retirement benefits.

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CHART OF THE DAY: Cities Use This Accounting Trick To Hide Massive Unfunded Pension Liabilities

Don’t worry union goonsl. Obama and the Democrats will bail you out. America better hope the Republicans take control of Congress.

BusinessInsider.com reports:

New research from Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh [PDF] projects a nearly 50% higher level of unfunded pension liabilities than most cities acknowledge.

Most cities use Entry Age Normal accounting, which assumes employees will retire at a normal age and not receive any increase in benefits.

A more accurate system is Present Value of Benefits accounting, which assumes employees will retire at a normal age after receiving typical salary and benefit increases.

Suddenly the pension crisis looks even more dire.

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Government-run Postal Service close to broke

The government’s record: Postal Service almost broke. Social Security in the red for the first time in its history. Medicare is broke. Medicaid is broke. The United States has record deficits.

Good news. The government will save us money with health care. If you still believe that, you are a certifiable Kool-Aid drinker.

The Washington Post reports:

Americans can still send and receive mail, but the U.S. Postal Service may not have much left in the bank after this week, as it’s set to announce billions of dollars in losses as early as Thursday.

It’s also waiting for postal regulators to announce Thursday whether they approve of a proposed 5.6 percent postage-rate increase, to start in January. The proposed increase faces stiff resistance from business groups and lawmakers, who say that the USPS should instead make deeper spending cuts to meet its financial obligations.

GOP opposition kept Congress from permitting the Postal Service to postpone paying $5.5 billion required by law to pre-fund retiree health benefits. A temporary spending measure to fund most federal programs through early December didn’t mention the Postal Service; it passed the Senate on Wednesday and is expected to clear the House on Thursday.

“The Postal Service does not want to make the tough decisions, which include cuts in personnel, pay and benefits. Instead, they are relying on a generous taxpayer bailout that will not solve any of their mid- or long-term problems,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who opposes the rate increase and congressional relief.

“Taxpayers should not be made to bail out a business-as-usual Postal Service,” Issa said.

Unionized Postal Workers wanting the taxpayers to bail them out. It will happen if the Democrats keep control of the House. They love their unions.

“While it appears that the continuing resolution will not include USPS funding, service will not be compromised while the administration works with Congress and USPS to ensure that they have the tools and authorities necessary to remain viable well into the future,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. The administration and Postal Service have met this week to determine what portion, if not all, of the payment can be made by the close of the fiscal year Thursday, the OMB said.

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80% of Every Calif. Gov’t Dollar Spent on State Workers

Want to know what’s scary? This is what Obama is doing by growing the government. The private sector continues to lose jobs and Obama keeps employing more government (public sector) workers who are unionized and paid more than those doing the same job in the private sector.

Wait until the Unions ask Obama for their bailouts. It’s coming. Keep your eyes open.

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