Tim wrote:
So now that we have a budget crisis and might have to lay off DOT
workers, they use their trucks - six of them - in a row - idling all
day - two workers per truck who sit and watch the mowers mow. "

Ah the old joke stands true.

What's big, orange, and sleeps three?


A state highway truck.



What wears a suit, a tie, and robs you blind?

Your white collar brokerage house representative.

On Jul 1, 9:21*am, HK wrote:
Tim wrote:
So now that we have a budget crisis and might have to lay off DOT
workers, they use their trucks - six of them - in a row - idling all
day - two workers per truck who sit and watch the mowers mow. "

Ah the old joke stands true.

What's big, orange, and sleeps three?

A state highway truck.

What wears a suit, a tie, and robs you blind?

Your white collar brokerage house representative.

My broker is fee only. No commission.

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story


What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.

Don White wrote:
"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story

What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.




I chuckle when I read how "outraged" some are regarding the pitiful
pensions paid to most public employees. Where was the outrage when the
bankers, insurance execs, and wall streeters were taking home millions
of dollars while defrauding their investors?

"HK" wrote in message
m...
Don White wrote:
"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story

What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.


I chuckle when I read how "outraged" some are regarding the pitiful
pensions paid to most public employees. Where was the outrage when the
bankers, insurance execs, and wall streeters were taking home millions of
dollars while defrauding their investors?

I'm hoping the general attitude towards working people in this group isn't
indicative of the American people as a whole.

Don White wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
m...
Don White wrote:
"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story
What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic
Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.

I chuckle when I read how "outraged" some are regarding the pitiful
pensions paid to most public employees. Where was the outrage when the
bankers, insurance execs, and wall streeters were taking home millions of
dollars while defrauding their investors?

I'm hoping the general attitude towards working people in this group isn't
indicative of the American people as a whole.



Americans are damned peculiar. Thanks to the wages their unionized
parents earned, a number of next-gen Americans have been able to break
loose from their blue collar origins. Now, they are anti-union, not that
most of them know dip about unions. It's sorta comical.

On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:16:07 -0400, HK wrote:

Vic Smith wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story


What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic


After the recent debacle in the financial markets, and the obvious
demonstration that they are "run" by incompetents and just plain crooks,
why should anyone have to "rely mostly on ... 401k savings..." for their
retirement, based upon corporate stocks? In recent years, the stock
market has proved itself to be unreliable.

Uh, I piled up a lot of money saving into my 401k and I didn't touch
stocks. Always money market. The tax sheltering encourages savings.
The feds guaranteed a bottom on money markets else it all would have
fallen apart.
The biggest problem with the 401k system is that the money markets are
non-competitive. Wall Streets like it that way.
When I could pull my money out of that 401k I tripled my return by
rolling it into IRA CD's on the open market.
FDIC guaranteed.
Equities are a gamble, and always have been.

--Vic

On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:07:05 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:


"Vic Smith" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story


What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.

Yep, and if those pension plan investments don't work out, unlike with
just about everybody else who would take a loss for the failure of
their investments, I suppose the gov can just raise taxes to keep the
pension at what was projected.
Don't know that's how it works, just guessing.
OTOH, I'm due a chunk of change from my company's traditional pension
when I hit 65.
Since I retired 3 years ago the value of that has dropped @$30k.
Can I raise taxes to make up the difference?
hehe.

--Vic

On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:13:39 -0400, HK wrote:

Don White wrote:
"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story

What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

Around heree, if a provincial MLA or a Federal MP can serve 6 years, they
get a generous pension plan.
They sure do take good care of themselves.




I chuckle when I read how "outraged" some are regarding the pitiful
pensions paid to most public employees. Where was the outrage when the
bankers, insurance execs, and wall streeters were taking home millions
of dollars while defrauding their investors?

I can't begin to tell you ****ed off I am at what the crooks are
getting.
But that never kept me from making financial sense for myself.
Worst thing that ever happened to this country was letting Wall Street
into everybody's pocket via 401k payroll deductions.
And making them think their future was guaranteed by Wall Street, so
they didn't have to worry about living within their means and saving
for their retirement to supplement SS.
What a ****ing con job.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:16:07 -0400, HK wrote:

Vic Smith wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:14:19 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

You ready to take it int he shorts?

Who needs Vaseline when you're going to get the barbed wire-wrapped-
around-the-broom handle treatment.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4274002.story

What a mess. I think the biggest problem is those gold-plated
salaries and pension plans they're paying to state employees,
including college faculty.
That's the biggest danger of big gov, they vote themselves and their
cronies big money.
And the Dems want to borrow 2 billion instead of cutting spending or
raising taxes. WTF?
They should rely mostly on SS and 401k savings like just about
everybody else has to, and keep pensions within reason.
The Fed elected officials are probably worse.
They can print money.
Dead weight and featherbedders all over the place.
Hey, ever think about running for Congress?
Like winning the lottery if elected.
Thanks for getting me depressed. Don't you miss Blago?
Told ya. (-:

--Vic

After the recent debacle in the financial markets, and the obvious
demonstration that they are "run" by incompetents and just plain crooks,
why should anyone have to "rely mostly on ... 401k savings..." for their
retirement, based upon corporate stocks? In recent years, the stock
market has proved itself to be unreliable.

Uh, I piled up a lot of money saving into my 401k and I didn't touch
stocks. Always money market. The tax sheltering encourages savings.
The feds guaranteed a bottom on money markets else it all would have
fallen apart.
The biggest problem with the 401k system is that the money markets are
non-competitive. Wall Streets like it that way.
When I could pull my money out of that 401k I tripled my return by
rolling it into IRA CD's on the open market.
FDIC guaranteed.
Equities are a gamble, and always have been.

--Vic


The money market rates available through 401(k)'s are far less than
impressive, and as you point out, don't approach those available via
insured CD's. Part of the problem here is that the employer or someone
contracted by the employer pretty much picks what
instruments/funds/money market funds are available for the choosing.

Too many Americans did not and still do not realize what a gamble
equities are, especially these days.