1 / 9

Pension Policy at a Crossroads NCPERS Research Series September 2016

Explore the current state of US pension policy and the potential impact of the two major party candidates on retirement savings and security.

anitarobertson
Download Presentation

Pension Policy at a Crossroads NCPERS Research Series September 2016

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Pension Policy at a CrossroadsNCPERS Research SeriesSeptember 2016 National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems

  2. The United States, the wealthiest nation in the world, faces a self inflicted retirement savings crisis. • Life-time guarantee of pensions is being replaced by do-it-yourself retirement plans such as 401 (k). • Between 1975 and 2012, close to 40 million people were shifted from Defined Benefits to Defined Contributions plans. • Imagine if there was no such shift, especially in the private sector, during the last 30 years. • The total retirement savings (DB + DC) would have been $13.9 trillion instead of the current $6.9 trillion.

  3. Today America Stands at a Crossroads

  4. We are about to elect a new President Which direction is pension policy likely to move under each President? Based to secondary research, let’s examine views of the two major party candidates.

  5. Donald Trump • Donald Trump has a union pension from Screen Actors Guild, but he balked on collectively bargained pensions of his employees at Taj Mahal casino under the cover of bankruptcy. • Kevin Gross, a Delaware bankruptcy judge, in 2014 denied a request by Trump Entertainment Resorts to be relieved of the pension obligations. • Judge Charles Stewart, New York Southern District Court, in 1991 found that Mr. Trump and his associates conspired to avoid paying pension and welfare fund contributions by hiring immigrants to demolish building to make way for Trump Tower. • According to Bloomberg rating of 401 (K) plans, Trump plan scores 30 out of 100. • Regarding Social Security, Trump favors privatization.

  6. Hillary Clinton • Her recent statement on the Central States Pension Fund and information on her website shows that Hillary Clinton is sympathetic to the cause of worker pensions. • Clinton will promote retirement savings by providing $1,000 matching tax credit for the first $1,000 in 401 (K) deposit. • She states on her website, “After working hard for years, Americans deserve a secure and comfortable retirement. Hillary will fight to protect retirement security, enhance – not privatize – Social Security, and push back against any effort to undermine retirement benefits.”

  7. In Closing Given the partisan divide in our country, it might be appropriate to close with a quote from Rumi, a twelfth-century poet and philosopher: “I am neither Zoroastrian nor Jewish, Christian nor Muslim. I am neither from this earth, nor from the sky. I am neither from fire, nor from wind.” He goes on and on disclaiming his affiliation with any religion or location. In the end, he says, “I am the soul of my love for the universe and humanity.” I might add to Rumi’s thinking that when it comes to pensions, I am neither Republican nor Democrat, because I have a passion for preserving pensions and our society’s economic well-being.

  8. Thank You

More Related