Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Well known thief Bruce Rauner tries to steal a $400 million from Teacher's Pensions

Governor Bruce Rauner made an attempt to swindle a $400 million from the TRS pension system. Currently, the TRS is funded by member contributions, investment dividends, and state controbutions. If investment returns don't perform up to expecrations the State of Illinois has to make up the difference by law. Accutarial scientists have advised revising the rate of return downward from 7.5% to 7%. The TRS board was set to accept the accutarial change, which according to the Chicago Tribune would mean;
If the board voted for the 7 percent figure, state government would be on the hook to make up the difference, estimated to cost an extra $400 million to $500 million a year, an expense that would come due starting in July. The governor and lawmakers would have to find that extra money, worsening a state budget that's already in free fall amid a budget impasse that's lasted more than a year. 
If the board voted for the 7.5 percent figure, the state would not have had to pay all of that extra money right away. But if investments failed to hit the benchmark, the shortfall would have been tacked on to the pension fund's $65 billion debt. Taxpayers would be hit either way; the question was whether it would be in the short term or long term.
So, Rauner's "solution" was to request the TRS board delay. Just like every other Illinois Governor,  Rauner wanted to kick the can down the road. Because delay long enough and when the bill comes due, Rauner knows he won't be in office and it'll be someone else's problem.

It's ironic and sick to see Rauner mess around with the TRS pensions. Rauner's fortune, he once I'm refered to himself as the 1% of the 1%, came from clipping money from the TRS pension system. Rauner's hedge fund GTCR "managed" the TRS pension for two decades. Consequently, he managed to amass billions of dollars by taking some of the pension money for himself, while the pension itself has been "nickeled and dimed" and has been pushed into debt.

Of course, Bruce Rauner doesn't care. Rauner got rich off of other people's labor. Rauner is a Rentier, he doesn't make money from producing anything, or from refining an existing product, or from inventing a new device, or from discovering something. No, Rauner's money comes from charging rent, extracting fees, and siphoning off of other people's money. 

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