Good Article: "Greenspan's Pension"

[DemBones DemBones]

Very interesting info from David Lindorff.

<snip>

"In fact, Greenspan, who was born in 1926, has been very careful to prepare a very comfortable retirement for himself. According to some accounts, one key reason he left Wall Street and went into government service was for the pension. As the story goes, Townsend-Greenspan & Co, a pension management firm that Greenspan founded, actually did such a poor job of predicting the direction of the market that the enterprise was about to go belly up and had to be liquidated. As one former Greenspan competitor, Pierre Renfret, recalls, 'When Greenspan closed down his economic consulting business to go on the Board of the Federal Reserve he did so because he had no clients left and the business was going under. We even went so far as to try and hire some of his former employees only to find out he had none for the 6 months prior to his closing. When he closed down he did not have a single client left on a retainer basis."

"According to Renfret, it was the failure of Greenspan's company that led him to turn to government employment, initially going to work for the Ford Administration, and later taking a job with the Federal Reserve Bank."

"Since the early--90s, when he hit retirement age, Greenspan has been cashing a monthly Social Security check that is at the maximum benefit rate--currently just over $1800. That might seem chump change for a guy who's pulling down a salary of $172,000 a year, but it will rise when his wife, NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, starts collecting her Social Security and retirement pension checks, too."

"Then of course, there will be that fat federal pension check that will start arriving when Greenspan finally decides to step down from his sinecure at the central bank. According to people familiar with the workings of the federal pension program, Greenspan can probably expect to collect close to $100,000 a year in his dotage, making his total personal retirement take just from pension and Social Security about $121,600 a year. " <snip>


http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff03042004.html


Perhaps it's past time for Mr. Greenspan to start drawing that federal pension and stop stealing from your Social Security and mine.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. And one wonders how much Mr. Greenspan amassed

during his Wall Street career. He certainly would have feathered his nest quite nicely. Perhaps he doesn't realize that it is impossible for most of the rest of us.

Perhaps he is stupid.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. Not to mention how much he has invested in IRA's, etc.,

during his tenure in "public service" (more like screw the public and serve yourself.)

[Kolesar]

2. They'll delay my retirement so that he can spend his $1800 on greens fees

...at an exclusive country club. Bastard Greenspan

[SoCalDem]

3. Actually that is quite small.. I expected that he would collect a lot more

He will probably be invited to several ceremonial board appointments that will rake in a ten times that..:(

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Not to mention the speaking fees he'll command. But

we baby boomers are supposed to sacrifice for the good of the country (i.e. so the super rich can keep the tax cuts George W. Bush gave them.) The Greatest Generation is about done with Social Security and doesn't want us, their children, to have our turn.

[Torgo4]

6. Soylent Greenspan Retirement Plan: Grab Your Musket!

In 1983 Alan Greenspan urged Congress and President Reagan to increase payroll taxes (FICA) to create a surplus for future retirees.

Now, after thee huge tax cuts, with Greenspan’s approval, Bush’s tax cuts have spun the country so far in deficit, Greenspan wants to make these cuts permanent and steal it from Social Security that we have already paid into.

So, in the private sector we have corporations like Enron and IPACLO, as well as Mutual Fund managers stealing private retirement funds; and in the public sector, Bush and the Republican Congress stealing the Social Security safety net and paying off their campaign contributors.

Well Boomers, I hope that $300 check is worth living in a cardboard box and gumming kibbles’n’bits in your old age, because that’s what’s waiting for us!

Any bets that the Militias are going to enjoy a huge surge in recruiting?


:grr:

[DemBones DemBones]

7. Be sure to read thingfish's fine essay about Greenspan, Ayn Rand,

and the Greatest Generation:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1201235

[DemBones DemBones]

8. A kick to keep this thread near thingfish's Greenspan essay

since it provides a little more info on Greenspan.

Edit: I mean this article in my thread supplements thingfish's essay.

[KoKo]

9. Very Interesting. He's actually taking his retirement? Does he need it?

and a nice tidy retirement sum he gets....hmmmmm. Thanks for this. it's very interesting.