Pensions Timebomb In America – “National Crisis” Cometh

by Mark O’Byrne, Gold Core:

Pensions Timebomb – Pensions “Are Going To Be A National Crisis”

– America’s underfunded pension system is “not a distant concern but a system already in crisis”…

– Tax may explode as governments seek to bail out insolvent pension plans

– Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Kentucky and eight other states vulnerable

– The simple mathematical mismatch at the heart of the pension crisis…

– Why the pension crisis really is “America’s silent crisis”…

– Pensions timebomb confronts Ireland, UK and most EU countries

“This is going to be a national crisis…”

“This” being America’s woefully underfunded pension liabilities, according to Karen Friedman. She’s the executive vice president of the Pension Rights Center.

(A place called the Pension Rights Center does in fact exist. We checked.)

MarketWatch columnist Jeff Reeves howls in confirmation that “collapsing pensions will fuel America’s next financial crisis.”

“This is not a distant concern,” warns he, “but a system already in crisis.”

According to data supplied by the Federal Reserve, pensions — public and private combined — were roughly 27% underfunded at the end of last year.

By some estimates, America’s public pensions alone are sunk in a $6 trillion abyss.

The issue, approached from any direction, is an impossible knot… a tar pit… a minotaur’s maze of blind alleys and dead ends.

How has the American pension come to such an estate?

Most public pension systems were built upon the sunny assumption that their investments will yield a handsome 7.5% annual return.

But consider…

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