Average Social Security Check Is $1269, But CEOs With Nest Eggs Worth Tens of Millions Want to Slash
According to a just-released Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Center for Effective Government report, "Platinum-Plated Pensions: The Retirement Fortune of CEOs Who Want to Cut Your Social Security":
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Business Roundtable CEOs’ corporate retirement accounts average $14.5 million—more than 1,200 times as much as the median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age.
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A retirement fund of $14.5 million, combined with Social Security, would generate a monthly retirement check for these CEOs of $88,576. That’s 68 times what a typical U.S. retiree can expect to receive.
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Ten Roundtable CEOs (including four who are also Fix the Debt members) have retirement plans valued at more than $50 million.
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Three of these CEOs have retirement assets of more than $100 million: John Hammergren of McKesson, David Cote of Honeywell, and Mike Duke of Wal-Mart.
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Duke’s $113.2 million retirement fund is more than 7,500 times as large as his employees’ average 401(k) account balance of $15,000.
But there is nary a voice in Congress or the corporate media advocating austerity for the super-rich. According to the Social Security Administration, the current average Social Security benefit is a measly $1,269 -- and remember recipients paid into the fund and are being repaid their earnings in the form of barely livable retirement checks.
The economic inequity in the US, as often noted here, is only growing, reaching beyond a Grand Canyon gap. It's more like an intergalactic distance when CEO advocates of cutting Social Security have accumulated retirement accounts "more than 1,200 times as much as the median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age."
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As IPS comments on the report, "In the current budget debate, the loudest calls for Social Security cuts are coming from two lobby groups led by CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security." The two groups under scrutiny are The Business Roundtable and a public relations front group called Fix the Debt.
More at: http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18323-average-social-security-check-is-1269-but-ceos-with-nest-eggs-worth-tens-of-millions-want-to-slash-the-program
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