Government versus private sector efficiency

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Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby tpcannon » Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:42 am

Gary S posted the letter below on the Yahoo retiree's group.

Terry,
I guess I was responding to a thread that had quoted you and though you were the sender. My mistake. However, my response still stands it just needs to point to those cheer leaders who blindly think capitalism is this great perfect system that doesn't take advantage of the government and the people on a daily basis. Everyday we see yet another story of tainted food, tainted medicines, fracking, illegal hazardous waste disposal, bad financial deals, crooked politicos etc. bought and brought on by big business. Big business has no morals. They can't even understand their lack of morals. It is just business as usual. And the ridiculous cheer leaders who write on this and many other forums who want to give them total free reign just astounds me. I don't trust the motives of half the people I worked with/for and I damn sure would not give the guy in the next office from me any authority over my life.Yet these CLs are the people they would have in charge.
Just what does big business/politics have to do before the cheerleaders realize they are being screwed by the very businesses they want to give total freedom to. Maybe when their grandchildren are sitting on a burned out cinder if a planet they might get a clue.
I am just glad this country had founding forefathers that knew we should never trust our leaders completely and tried to keep some controls on them. That is why we have the second amendment we do, right after free speech. Just wished they had limited the power of big business money in politics too. Then maybe we wouldn't need our current second. But I will stand by both of them until this country gets some morals.

Gary S
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Re: Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby tpcannon » Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:43 am

Gary, I agree with everything you've said and I couldn't have said it any better. We're still on the same side.

Terry
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Re: Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby tpcannon » Sat Nov 28, 2015 9:14 am

Dave Burritt posted this reply to Gary S:

Gary:

You said "They can't even understand their lack of morals. It is just business as usual. “

All, well not all :-), I can say is BINGO!!!!

When they hired kids out of college, they bragged about the pension and the medical benefits after retirement. There was no * at the end stating that we may change our mind at a later point in time. This was one of the perks for working for a big company and having to put up with the bull shit that occurs at a big company. OK, so maybe the last part was not in the brochure just something the manager stated during the recruitment.

Then, in 2003 Peterson screws all those kids by killing the pension. He says the 401(k) match will be increased to cover for that (how long did that last??). He says if you don’t like it then leave! Well, I would if you could unwind the clock 20 years! What was really sad is that most of the employees that were affected just took it. No real bitching at all.

So, OK, times are changing and companies need to do things to survive. I do get it. However, when a CEO gets fired (e.g., Peterson, Russo, Carly F, to name just a few) they walk way with an obscene amount of money because “it was in their contract”.

I think most of the people in this group took the 5 + 5 back in 2001 and don’t realize how bad their younger associates took it in the shorts.

I was very fortunate. I was able to get the hell out of there when I was 50.

Incompetence and greed at the highest levels have ruined Avaya and I don’t think it is possible for them to ever recover. Going private, buying Nortel and then putting Nortel executives in at the highest level was the worst things they could have done.

Dave
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Re: Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby tmoneil » Sat Nov 28, 2015 3:10 pm

Just like the fine print for financial houses that says "past performance is not an indicator of future outcomes" applies to all aspects of life. When I hired into Bell Labs which became American Bell, then Information Systems, then Lucent, and finally Avaya, I had no preconceived notion that things would remain the same for eternity, then never do. Their pension offering was always looked at as an "adder" to our financial strategy. We used the 401(k) with it's generous 66% match as my actual old age "pension" and it worked out okay so far.
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Re: Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby Dave » Sat Nov 28, 2015 11:31 pm

tmoneil wrote:Just like the fine print for financial houses that says "past performance is not an indicator of future outcomes" applies to all aspects of life. When I hired into Bell Labs which became American Bell, then Information Systems, then Lucent, and finally Avaya, I had no preconceived notion that things would remain the same for eternity, then never do. Their pension offering was always looked at as an "adder" to our financial strategy. We used the 401(k) with it's generous 66% match as my actual old age "pension" and it worked out okay so far.


One of the reasons I was able to retire when I did was I invested like a maniac and lived well below my means. 16% into the 401(k) and then 25% when they allowed it. I have been retired for 6 years now and can't touch the 401(k) earnings for another 3.5 years when I reach 59.5. Yeah, I know there are ways to get it early but my taxable investments are doing fine and I won't need to do that.

When I was in my 20's I thought there was a good chance that the gov. would screw me out of my social security. That still might happen and if it does I will be annoyed but I am prepared.

Regarding the fine print, my point earlier was THERE WAS NO #@$@% FINE PRINT when they bragged about pension and benefits. The fine print didn't come until the Peterson era. That is when they said any and all benefits can be pulled (I don't recall the exact language).

Dave
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Re: Government versus private sector efficiency

Postby tpcannon » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:01 am

Back in the olden days, we talked about a 3-legged stool for retirement. The 3 legs were personal savings, a pension, and Social Security. None of them alone would likely support a person or couple. Two would keep one or two people out of poverty. If you were lucky enough to retire with all 3, then you might be very comfortable.

I too took advantage of the 401k and maximized my contributions to it in order to get every penny the company offered in matching funds. I considered it a pay raise. During the tech boom, I watched it grow exponentially. Good times!

When they pushed us out in 2001, I was too young to collect on the 401k and my income was too low to contribute to it any longer. I wanted that 401k money in the safest investment possible. We had a guaranteed interest fund when I was working but after I retired from the company, they told me I was no longer eligible for the guaranteed interest fund. I don't remember what choices were left, but I put it in the most conservative available. Then I watched the market fluctuate like crazy. When the market would take a dive, so would my 401k balance. But when the market climbed back up, my 401k wouldn't. I watched helplessly as this ratcheting played out over a couple years and 40% of my 401k went up in smoke (thanks, Fidelity). The moment I could get my hands on it, I got that money out and put where it was safer. I was able to ride out the crash of 2007 unscathed.

Now I'm fully retired and I'm comfortable with my 3-legged stool. I'm sure glad my Social Security wasn't stolen from me like my 401k savings were. Investing your life savings in stocks/bonds/mutual funds is fine as long as you have the ability to ride out the bad times. But if you're up against a wall and in danger of losing your home and the market crashes just as you need that money to survive, you're screwed. A lot of people experienced that in the great recession.
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