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July 09, 2011 06:22 PM UTC

Colorado PERA, TARP Money, and the Politicians

  • 17 Comments
  • by: oncart

(I’m promoting this for the links to information on key corporate PACs at the bottom. And for the people who want more diversity of opinion on the front page (are you out there, Arapa?) – promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)

Have you have ever wondered why there never seems to be a difference in Washington DC politicians? It’s because our tax money and their decisions are convoluted with Federal & State Pensions and Big Corporations, especially Large Investment Banks.

VetTheGov as stated in our last story on the School budgets has followed the Colorado Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA) pension fund all the way to the top TARP recipients. PERA’s portfolio has a large portion of it’s assets with many of the listed TARP companies. The connection to Wall Street and then on to the Politicians will have many of you scratching your heads.  In following the money trail of many State pension funds that are accessible online or via the Security & Exchange Commission website search engine, VetTheGov discovered a common theme. We are talking TRILLIONS of invested Tax dollars being poured into large corporations ranging from Oil & Gas companies, to large investment banks, the Tech sector, and everything in between.  

Why does VetTheGov use the word tax dollars for personal pensions by the public sector? Well because the Public Sector is mostly funded from your taxes right? What if you are a Public Sector Employee that gets matching retirement funding from the Local, State, or Federal government agencies you work for? In reality it is a two for one because the public sector salary is tax funded in which the employee contribution is tax money and then the matching contribution is agaain tax money. These pension funds are produced 100% by your tax dollars and currently fund many publicly traded companies such as Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Pfizer, Chevron, and many more including the top TARP recipients.

Here are the Top TARP recipients: AIG-$70 Billion; Citigroup-$50 Billion; General Motors-$50 Billion; Bank of America-$50 billion; JP Morgan-$25 billion; Wells Fargo-$25 Billion, Ally Financial-$17 Billion; Chrysler-$14 Billion; Morgan Stanley-$10 Billion; Goldman Sachs-$10 Billion; PNC Financial-$7.6 Billion; US Bancorp-$6.6 Billion; GMAC LLC-$5 Billion; Suntrust Bank-$4.85 Billion; Capital One-$3.55 Billion; Regions Financial-$3.5 Billion; Fifth 3rd Bank-$3.4 Billion; American Express-$3.4 Billion; BB&T-$3.13 Billion; NY Mellon-$3 Billion; and Keycorp-$2.5 Billion.  Keep reading, as the lines are dotted below!

So where do you think the concept originated of investing Public Sector money into publicly traded corporations? Under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency who hired the organization Hewitt Associates which has recently been acquired by AON, which in Gaelic means, “Oneness.” Hewitt Associates was the only firm involved in the task force that designed and implemented the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA created a new government agency/corporation called Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).  PBGC is a small government agency/corporation that employs over 900 federal employees with $460 Million in expenses. This federal government corporation insures individuals keep their pensions when corporations go bankrupt. The current financials show a NET financial position of negative -$23 Billion.  

Why such a close look into pensions you ask? VetTheGov believes many are very vulnerable Nationwide and globally and will eventually cause either the greatest depression of all time or create the highest taxes of all time or both. Using the accounting rules currently allowed there are many questions and information in these pension funds left unanswered. If you combine Social Security, Medicare, and Pensions all together it is no wonder Obama Care was born! Obama Care gives government control of the coming 10,000 monthly Baby Boomers soon to retire and start receiving Social Security benefits, Pensions, and Medicare that will completely overrun our entire big government and big corporation scheme!  It will make abortion numbers look acceptable when our elderly population begins to disappear because the cost is way too high to keep them alive. Keep an eye on the many band-aides yet to come. The debt ceiling is just one of the many to follow! Here is a great asset vs. liability State-by-State comparison on Pensions.  

This video by CBS 60 Minutes describes the coming Pension Tsunami at the State level. Speaking of Pension Tsunami’s please visit their website to learn more of this crisis. Please take the time to educate yourself on this topic, as it will help make sense through all the smoke and mirrors by the media and the politicians. This website will give you California’s top pension recipient’s where the number one retiree receives over 500K annually.

How are the politicians benefitting and involved in this entire pension scheme? Well your tax dollars get funded right back to these politicians and you would be surprised which elected officials receive these dollars through the many corporate campaign donations. VetTheGov visited the Federal Election Commission’s search site and entered the top TARP recipient’s company name. You will see names like Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Richard Santorum, Mark Udall, John McCain, Charles Rangel, Jason Chaffetz, Tom Tancredo, Herman Cain, and many many more and some TEA PARTY surprises too! Can you say Michele Bachmann?  All of your favorites are buried in these reports somewhere with major contributions given to both political parties!

Here is AIG’s PAC report – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00097725/  

Citigroup’s PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00008474/

General Motors PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00076810/

Bank of America PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00364778/

JP Morgan Chase PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00128512/

Wells Fargo employee PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00128512/

Ally Financial PAC – See above GM PAC but note Ally is 72% owned by the Treasury Dept. and formally known as GMAC finance arm.

Chrysler PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00043687/

Morgan Stanley PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00337626/

Goldman Sachs PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00265124/

Goldman Sachs other PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00350744/

PNC Financial PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00035519/

PNC Financial other PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00186064/

PNC Financial yet another PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00141036/

US Bancorp PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00018036/

GMAC LLC PAC – See above General Motors PAC. 

Suntrust Bank PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00386524/

Suntrust Bank Florida PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00111567/

Capital One PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00326595/

Capital One other PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00149583/

Regions Financial PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00432252/

Fifth 3rd Bank PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00290502/

American Express PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00040535/

BB&T PAC – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00075291/

Bank of NY Mellon – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00017558/

Keycorp – http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00073155/

VetTheGov completed the vicious money circle of your fine tax dollars at work. Hopefully now you are aware of the games from the government and who along with the many corporations try to protect each others interest in the scheme against you the American taxpayer. The protection given or implied is usually misguided/misleading media or talking heads in Washington DC, your State capital cronies, and your local government elected officials.  

The programs mentioned in this story are unsustainable models and why the government is over $14.3 TRILLION in debt with no end or slow down in site! VetTheGov wanted to show you how all your tax dollars get co-mingled with Corporate Americas publicly traded companies and the United States Federal Government.  Do you think they really have your best interest in mind? 

VetTheGov again hopes this information was helpful and would love to hear any additional thoughts you may have or just a comment you may want to share.   

Comments

17 thoughts on “Colorado PERA, TARP Money, and the Politicians

    1. Agreed. Isn’t it in the taxpayers interest to use public pension funds to invest in American enterprise?  Otherwise as the other commenter notes, the money will end up under a matress not doing anything for anybody.  

    2. Firstly, I’ll look for the link that showed our dear PERA being no. 2 in terms of worst of the bunch, I think it was the Economist that ran that story. The takeaway here is that Coloradans are on the hook for this growing liability.

      Second, David is right. PERAs objective of delivering an 8% return needs somewhere to pack it’s investments into and the US capital markets are reliable, but risky if you don’t know what your doing. Face it folks TARP, the bank bailout, was actually a loan program devised by the Feds to loan money to mostly healthy banks with instructions to buy up the Fannie/Freddie “no doc” fueled housing bubble lobbied so strongly for by those such. Barney Frank and Maxine Waters.

      Last, I expect my banks to protect themselves and me from high cost government mandates that put my capital at risk. I just wish they’d give their PAC dollars to more GOP and Blue Dog Dems vs knuckleheads like Chris Dodd and Chuck Schummer.

      1. Yep sports fans, a decade to pay out the remaining $50+ billion in promised benefits, then the property owners will become directly liable. See the economist link below.

        http://www.economist.com/node/

        The favorite section of this story is the opening: “CHUCK REED is the Democratic mayor of San Jose, California. You might expect him to be an ally of public-sector workers, a powerful lobby in the Golden State. But last month, at a hearing on pension reform held by the Little Hoover Commission, which monitors the state’s government, Mr Reed lamented his crippling public-pensions bill. “City payments for retirement benefits have tripled over the last ten years even though our workforce has declined dramatically, and we have billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities that the taxpayers must pay,” he said.

        Mr Reed estimated that the average cost to his city of employing a police officer or firefighter was $180,000 a year. Not only can such workers retire at 50, but some enjoy annual pension payments greater than their salaries. They are also entitled to cost-of-living increases of 3% a year, health and dental insurance for life and lump-sum payments for unused sick leave that could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

        Plenty of similar bills are looming in America’s public sector: in municipalities, in the federal government, and especially at state level. Defined-benefit pensions, which link retirement income to salary, are expensive promises to keep. The private sector has been switching to defined-contribution plans, in which employees bear the investment risk. But the public sector has barely begun to adjust, and has built up a huge liability to its staff. Worse, it has not funded the promises properly.”

        Note to insiders, you better call media matters, progress now, CADA, huffpo, CREW, Soros himself, Maddow and the rest of the team … It’s time to put this radical mayor Chuck from San Jose in your sights.

        1. You must hate hard working Americans, especially firewomen and men, and policewomen and men. How many retire at 50? “Some”? That’s your research? You like it when American workers carry the risk for their old age and health care.

          While it is a fact that public employees have a lower combined wage and benefits package than their private sector counterparts, it is also true that public service jobs tend to be balanced by other positives such as better job security and greater health and pension benefits. Your dismissive attitudes, your disregard for hard working Americans, and your near hatred for rights of workers leaves me disgusted.

          Your broad brush labeling is equally sad. If you want to lump Media Matters, Progress Now, CADA, Huffington Post, CREW, Soros and Maddow together, why not do a little work and explain their positions on the environment, defense budgets, job creation, unions, etc. How can I say this discretely? You display a shocking ignorance.

          How many jobs have you created? What is the level of the payroll you meet evry pay period? How many products, customers, patents, or any contribution to society have you made. These are real questions you need to answer.

          Until you can answer these questions to our satisfaction, you will continue to be an ignorant pain in the ass.

          1. Until you can answer these questions to our satisfaction, you will continue to be an ignorant pain in the ass.

            I just about fell over laughing when I read “answer these questions to our satisfaction”; have you really convened a an oversight committee?

            If so, is there a formal process for me to answer your committees questions and just how shall we proceed in terms of the level of details the committee will be requiring?

            1. There is an oversight committee.

              Self-appointed…secret…and yes…all liberals. It is a vast, left-wing, conspiracy.

              How many jobs have you created? What is the level of the payroll you meet evry pay period? How many products, customers, patents, or any contribution to society have you made.

              Sir Robin (our chief inquisitor) has asked you these questions. Please answer them…resistance is futile.   😉

                1. How many jobs have you created. I’ve created thousands. How many employees do you have? I have hundreds. How many customers do you have? I have thousands.

                  Put up or shut up. It’s really quite simple.

                2. How many jobs have you created. I’ve created thousands. How many employees do you have? I have hundreds. How many customers do you have? I have thousands.

                  Put up or shut up. It’s really quite simple.

                3. so Sir Robin is really just one crazy bastard!

                  Hence, his incredible charm and magnetism.

                  To know him is to love him.

                  Answer the questions, please…or perhaps admit that you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about…nah, that’ll never happen.

  1. I need to repost this paragraph below, the machine I’m using has a mind of it’s own with autocorrections.

    Second, David is right. PERAs objective of delivering an 8% return needs somewhere requires it to pack it’s investments into some vehicle and the US capital markets are reliable, but risky if you don’t know what your doing.

    Face it folks TARP, the bank bailout, was actually a loan program devised by the Feds to loan money to mostly healthy banks with instructions to buy up the weakest ones who had jumped onto the Fannie/Freddie “no doc” fueled housing bubble … You know the one lobbied for so strongly for by those such as Barney Frank and Maxine Waters.

  2. Part of a letter from the July 10 big Denver newspaper:

    According to the organization Secure PERA, the rate of Colorado investment returns for 2010 exceeded actuarial assumptions. The plan earned a 14 percent return on investments and ended 2010 with $38.7 billion in defined benefit assets.

    The report went on to note that all PERA investments had positive returns, ranging from 7.8 percent for fixed incomes to 20.9 percent for alternatives. Even real estate returned 16.7 percent.

  3. Click on the link portfolio in the story and someone tell me where the almost 40 Billion is? I can’t find it and SEC filings from first quarter 2011 show only 15.8 Billion.

    Can someone provide a link as to actual holdings of where I can find the other 20+ Billion???

      1. bud,

        OK Accrued Liabilities 59 Billion, Valued Assets 39 Billion Page 141

        So question is how are they getting the 39 Billion in valued assets? The budget is in a foreign language!  

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