Posted on 09/06/2013 2:35:30 PM PDT by EBH
While the world was glued to the developments in the Mediterranean in the past week, Poland took a page straight out of Rahm Emanuel's playbook and in order to not let a crisis go to waste, announced quietly that it would transfer to the state - i.e., confiscate - the bulk of assets owned by the country's private pension funds (many of them owned by such foreign firms as PIMCO parent Allianz, AXA, Generali, ING and Aviva), without offering any compensation. In effect, the state just nationalized roughly half of the private sector pension fund assets, although it had a more politically correct name for it: pension overhaul.
By way of background, Poland has a hybrid pension system: as Reuters explains, mandatory contributions are made into both the state pension vehicle, known as ZUS, and the private funds, which are collectively known by the Polish acronym OFE. Bonds make up roughly half the private funds' portfolios, with the rest company stocks.
And while a change to state-pension funds was long awaited - an overhaul if you will - nobody expected that this would entail a literal pillage of private sector assets.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said private funds within the state-guaranteed system would have their bond holdings transferred to a state pension vehicle, but keep their equity holdings. The funds would effectively be left with only the equities portions of their assets, even this would be depleted, and there will be uncertainty about the number of new savers joining.
.... After all, this is a last ditch step which no rational person would engage in unless there were no other option. Simple: there were no other option, and the driver is the same reason the world everywhere else is broke too - too much debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
We allz bout to be victims of Pogoism
Its fur the chilrunn yaknow
“OFE” now = “SOL”
BOHICA!
Is this “ghetto” Polish? :-))
Soon coming to a North American republic near you.
They have no guns to retaliate. However I am willing to bet the bubble of protest is starting to enlarge.
Did they really confiscate without "any compensation". Or did they replace it with government debt?
socialists and big govt authoritarians (ie: progressives) quickly running out of other people’s money
Soon coming to a North American republic near you.
That’s what I’m afraid of. My wife plans to retire in the spring of 2015. Will obama take her and everyone’s 401K funds. There are trillions of dollars out there in these funds and I know the politico’s are frothing at the mouth with the thought of confiscating our money.
Co za asy!
I envision them to first force everyone to convert their traditional IRA’s and 401K’s into Roth Accounts.
As if they didn’t confiscate enough of it already...
“Poland said on Wednesday it would transfer 121 billion zlotys in bonds held by state-guaranteed private pension funds to the state and subsequently cancel them to curb the public debt”
per Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/05/poland-assets-markets-idUSL6N0H11GJ20130905
Apparently they also plan to go after at least some of the equities, as well.
What is it about a Roth that makes it easier to confiscate?
Yes, those employed by government will cut their predecessors’ pensions in order to avoid layoffs.
Mmmm....you left out the word banana, yes? >> “...North American banana republic near you.”
Me either. I’m a verbal/literary kind of person, which is great when it comes to spelling bees, etc., but I have a hard time understanding economic issues. And that’s another reason I’m not rich, lol.
Well, it could be a lot worse. We could be on welfare or something. I’m glad to hear I’m not in this boat alone. Good luck to you.
Its not the confiscation angle but the fact that the conversion would force the sheeple to pay taxes up front.
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