Theft from the future, and breach of trust with the past - Pensions

There was an interesting 5 minutes on radio 5 live this morning, as the low provision of many people for their pensions was discussed. ( By many people I of course mean private sector people who are also carrying the burden for the people with pensions - public sector people ).

Scripture and the differences in the Lords prayer between the churches of Scotland and England were even mentioned. ( Just showing how the weak Church of England has totally failed to engage with the whole issue of debt- beyond the simplistic left wing view of just writing it off for third world dictatorships. )

Someone phoned in to explain how every pension pot they had invested in had lost money - I have to say that's my and my families experience also. ( Although the tax relief on the pensions may have offset that - but all that really amounts to is a subsidy of the pensions industry, not pensioners. )

A long time ago I explained to a colleague about why you need to be careful about pensions. I explained the example of Argentina 'borrowing' private sector pensions to pay its public sector wage bill. The problem with pension is you've put your money into government controlled parcels.

This has already started in Europe, and the Irish have just started a 'temporary' tax on pensions. We can all remember Gordon Brown's stealth tax on pensions to pay for Labour's re-election campaigns ( ie to help with his irresponsible running of a structural deficit with an unreformed public sector just to keep the egos of as few washed up socialists provided for by tax payers money ).

Its worth reading about what our government may do over on the Adam Smith Institute blog here. ( There are also the links which I've used in this post there. )

There is a wider political issue here- a massive breach of trust is being carried out to help resolve the banking and sovereign debt crisis. The assumptions of a successful capitalist economy and democracy are being called into question by stealthy subversion.

This could be the biggest wave of the crisis yet to break.

I don't think the politicians have realised how angry people will be when they realise what has been going on.

And before Labour types get all Fabian on me, remember it was Labour that ruined pensions. Brown & Darling were not just very close to Fred the Shred at RBS, but also the whole Scottish insurance and pension industry that support Edinburgh. Labour changes taxes and regulations in ways that made their city backers and friends very happy.