Snivel Serpent Pensions, Canada's Biggest Bailout

[Anonymous]

A new video released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation follows the story of Lego man "Murray the Mechanic" as CTF describes the "Biggest Bailout In Canadian History."



"In 2003, governments spent $7.2 billion on government employee pensions...but as the plans ran into trouble, governments increased spending to a whopping $18.6 billion per year to bail them out!" says the video's YouTube summary.



"Murray" watches as public sector pensions get billions in taxpayer funding while he's left without a pension and slapped with higher property taxes, alcohol taxes and more.



Pension liabilities have been a major issue for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. They've started numerous campaigns to educate Canadians on the issue, as well as petitions to lobby for reform.



This video was posted today and already has a couple hundred hits as Canadians find out how to "bring government pensions back down to earth."



This is why Murray the mechanic is pissed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPQauh-3BKQ&list=UUIKvK_bErQ0XbypVdnORi2g">

[Anonymous]

A new video released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation follows the story of Lego man "Murray the Mechanic" as CTF describes the "Biggest Bailout In Canadian History."



"In 2003, governments spent $7.2 billion on government employee pensions...but as the plans ran into trouble, governments increased spending to a whopping $18.6 billion per year to bail them out!" says the video's YouTube summary.



"Murray" watches as public sector pensions get billions in taxpayer funding while he's left without a pension and slapped with higher property taxes, alcohol taxes and more.



Pension liabilities have been a major issue for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. They've started numerous campaigns to educate Canadians on the issue, as well as petitions to lobby for reform.



This video was posted today and already has a couple hundred hits as Canadians find out how to "bring government pensions back down to earth."



This is why Murray the mechanic is pissed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPQauh-3BKQ&list=UUIKvK_bErQ0XbypVdnORi2g">

[RW]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

[Anonymous]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

[Obvious Li]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

only in fucked up western democracies is such lunacy allowed to continue...govts. know they will bankrupt the country but are unwilling to do what is necessary to save it....fucking yellow bellied cowardly bastards....every one of those politicians are cocksuckers

[Anonymous]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

only in fucked up western democracies is such lunacy allowed to continue...govts. know they will bankrupt the country but are unwilling to do what is necessary to save it....fucking yellow bellied cowardly bastards....every one of those politicians are cocksuckers

We must all(as well as our kids and grandkids) bite the bullet and pick up the outrageous tab for the obscene perks of our federal snivel and retired politicos even though none of us are members of the exclusive club.

[RW]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

These "liabilities" are invented.  They mean fuck all and they shouldn't be pandered to.  The government isn't going to fold one day.  There is plenty of time for market recovery within these plans and no reason to unnecessarily increase contributions.



We are being played.

[RW]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

only in fucked up western democracies is such lunacy allowed to continue...govts. know they will bankrupt the country but are unwilling to do what is necessary to save it....fucking yellow bellied cowardly bastards....every one of those politicians are cocksuckers

At least you are giving credit where it is due - political bullshittery.

[Anonymous]

Go bitch at the stock markets and those who fuck them up.

Markets have ups and downs, so when they are down who pays these liabilities? Are the people paying for these liabilities eligible for such extravagant snivel serpent pensions? Why should they continue paying for these ponzi schemes they are ineligible to collect?

These "liabilities" are invented.  They mean fuck all and they shouldn't be pandered to.  The government isn't going to fold one day.  There is plenty of time for market recovery within these plans and no reason to unnecessarily increase contributions.



We are being played.

No, they are there, they are real and they have bankrupted cities in the US. However, why should the average Canadian pay for these perks? They cannot collect them themselves.  



Then their is bridge funding. The civil servants get the equivalent of more Canada Pension Plan benefits than the rest of us too. The earliest a civil servant can retire is 50, enabling them to collect $105,000 in bridge benefits before the age of 65.



This is a huge early retirement incentive, averaging about $7,000 per year, per civil servant.



It's all totally sickening and totally unfair. However, I admit the tweaking the Harper government did with federal snivel serpent pensions is an improvement.

[RW]

I understand that plans are real.  I have met many US city plan comptrollers of them in my day.  What is bullshit is the paper only shortfalls.



It's all part of a working compensation package that includes wages and benefits.

[Anonymous]

I understand that plans are real.  I have met many US city plan comptrollers of them in my day.  What is bullshit is the paper only shortfalls.



It's all part of a working compensation package that includes wages and benefits.

We seen some reforms recently to federal pensions, they are at least admitting there's a problem, so that's a good thing. However, those reforms do not go far enough. Canadians who have to save for their own retirements are forced to pay for the pension benefits they themselves will never receive. There may come a day of reckoning when Canadians refuse to delay their own retirement to pay for civil servants/MP's to retire earlier.

[RW]

Most Canadians have access to CPP do they not? That isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Why don't more Canadians insist on having pension plans rather than trying to save for their own retirement and feeling miserably?

[Obvious Li]

i swore i wouldn't sink to the level of debating this fucking subject again but to counter the two or three main points raised i offer the following explanations for clarification..



1. that pensions were part of a greater compensation package negotiated in an open collective bargaining process.....we know this is complete bunkum.....govt. unions have threatened, bullied and blackmailed weak, cowardly govts. since their inception.....and in a lot of cases govts. with similar political views as the unions were complicit in offering outrageous pensions to their "friends" ...these generous "benefits" were offered to keep the union leaders from publicly exposing their own exorbitant pension benefits...a quid-pro-quo



2, why don't other canadians try to get larger pensions instead of going after public sector workers....private companies could never survive and in fact would be out of business if they even offered pensions a fraction as generous as the public sector unions...it is beyond belief that someone is so naive or stupid as to recommend that corporations put themselves out of business for a political agenda..oh wait a minute 18% of the population actually think like that



3. that somehow these pensions are sustainable if we get higher returns on the pension investments...huh, are you kidding...seeing as how facts don't work i offer this historical record....since the 1980's we have had the highest annual rates of investment returns in history.....and where are we as far as unfunded govt. pension liabilities are concerned  increased ??? or decreased ???...i let you figure that out....you will not find a single credible financial person in the world that would dispute we are now in a semi-permanent low interest economy that could last for decades...so the question becomes...if during the greatest expansion in the history of mankind we could not cover these pension liabilities..what do you suppose will happen when we are in constant contraction mode





no more...just can't do it

[RW]

Yeah and what is a pension liability exactly?



Have you seen the profit margins of some of these corporations you are boohooing about going broke in the face of pensions? LOL!  Get your head out of your ass dude.



Pensions are part of compensation packages.  That's a reality.

[Anonymous]

Most Canadians have access to CPP do they not? That isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Why don't more Canadians insist on having pension plans rather than trying to save for their own retirement and feeling miserably?

Of course, but what has that got to do with the outrageously generous DB pension plans that are available to the feds and retired snivel serpents that most of are ineligible for? In Canada, 80% of small businesses can't afford to offer pension plans to their employees, leaving over half of Canadians to fund their own retirement. Why should some some guy driving a truck at a small family-owned construction supply company have to work until he's 65, so some snivel serpent can be bridged at 50? Grossly unfair and kudos to the feds for making some necessary changes. More are on the way too no matter what party forms future governments. It's about time the feds realize they are not above the "suckers" they serve.