Pension Checks Unilaterally Stop

What if one day your pension check did not show up?  And never did show up.  And you depended on that check for survival?  One town found it simply did not have the money in the account, to pay both city employees and pension obligations, so it decided to pay working city employees instead of retirees.

It will get to that in time, although there will be many possible responses, all essentially the same result.  Either the check will not show up, or the $1500 pension check will only cover one loaf of bread, or you'll get your money, but there will be nothing to buy with it.  There are too many possibilities to predict which path of least resistance the powers that be will take.

Pensioners will complain that it is unfair not to honor the promises that were made to them.  But wait, what about the promises the government workers made to us?  Where is the rule of law regarding the mortgage mess, torture, war, snooping?  Where is the more better cheaper faster medical care we were promised.  The safe food?  The first rate education?  Freedom of speech?  Excellent transportation?  Whatever department a pensioner worked in, did they deliver innovation or more better cheaper faster?  One can say "it's not my fault" or "I was just following orders" or whatever, but you'll get about as sympathetic a hearing as citizens got when they petitioned government over the last 50 years.

There is a call to privatize govt as a response, so that what savings are made can be directed to pensions. That won't work for two reasons: those who would take govt work private need to make money, they would do so, and keep the profits for themselves, not share it.  Big paychecks would make sure nothing was left over for pensioners.

Better is to corporatize.  For example, the Post Office is down some 8 billion a year.  Their front line service, the monopoly on first class mail, the point at which they interact with their customer, is an occasion of trauma.  Not much hope for them to reform.  So instead of selling it to UPS or auctioning it off, in pieces or whole to the highest bidder, corporatize the USPS by adding up the liabilities (accounts payable, pensions, bonds, etc) in dollars,  say 100 billion, and then call those "shares."  Next take the USPS assets, real estate, rolling stock, cash and equivalents, good will (hahaha) fixtures, infrastructure, etc, and total that, say 120 billion dollars.  The one day every claimant gets 1.2 shares for ever dollar owed by USPS.  At that point anyone with shares is now a stockholder.

At the same time, the USPS loses its monopoly in one year thereafter.  Every owner at that point can decide what to do with his shares.  Unload them, buy more up, whatever.  The free market would truly sort it all out.

That would not doubt be a success for all concerned.  So next, we take the US Dept of Education, and run the same plan.  But but but...  the dept of education does not really do anything like the USPS does.  Exactly.

In any event, we need to clear out pointless government as an expense, and increase free markets.  This plan would work, and help get us back to work.

Old joke:

A USMail worker passes a Fedex worker making deliveries in an office building.  They greet each other: "How is it going?" asks the Fedex worker of the USMail worker.  "Terrible..." says the USMail worker, "look at all these packages I've got to deliver..."  "How about you?" asks the USMail worker of the Fedex worker.  "Wonderful..." says the Fedex worker, "look at all these packages I've got to deliver..."

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