(29-11-2011 22:16 )bigguy01 Wrote: before gordon brown became chancillor of the exchequer in 1997 the pension fund for state pension which made profits was tax free then around 1999/2000 gordon brown put a tax on the profits hence a pension blackhole.
It really hacks me off that the party that was supposed to look after ordinary workers destroyed the pension system. There are a small number of simple causes for the collapse of the pensions.
1> They taxed it, like bigguy01 said. "Were the Government. Theres some money. Lets help ourselves."
2> Risk. Labour allowed and encouraged pension funds to move from safe boring bonnds into shares arguing that shares would give better growth. That was fine until share prices halved almost overnight and yields dropped by a similar amount, shrinking the value of some pensions 4 fold. Yup, Gordon Brown destoyed pensions.
3> Underfunding. When the share market was steaming ahead some companies warned that it could not last and they wanted to pump extra money in while things were good. Financial rules prevented this. Things turned bad, the companies were proved right and the Government wrong. Again. Which wouldnt be too bad if it werent a tale 3000 years old (the dream of 7 fat cows and 7 thin cows). Nice one Gordon.
4> Risk. Following Enron the Government made companies show pension liabilities on balance sheets as debts. Not unreasonable except that share prices can vary by 10% on a bad day, making the pension fund look like a very volatile and big risk, unlike any other business debt. To guarantee to cover a £10billion pension fund liability a company might need £12billion. At a stroke pension costs soared because of a technical rule change. Thanks Gordon.
5> People living longer. Not as big an effect as you might think. A small change in the number of mums working/not working, size of the public sector, unemployment, school leaving age, university numbers could cancel out the effect. Or double it.
6> University. Great where it gives people skills necessary to be more productive, but a generation are being taken out of productive work for 3 years to get what? Degrees in hairdressing salon management and working in a travel agency. These are cruel cons. It doesnt matter that the students pay the costs, its money taken out of the economy and people taken out of the workforce for 7.5% (3/40) of their working life.
7> Public sector growth. Create public sector jobs and often that can reduce the number of skilled qualified workers available to the private sector. Its the private sector that creates wealth, and pays for the public sector, so its a double whammy. Great ehen those jobs are worthwhile, but not when they are waste like Marketing & Communications or just increased paperwork. Labour again.
Bear in mind that public sector pensions are not subject to the whim of the stock market and Government departments are not at risk of takeover because of pension liabilities, making £10,000 of public sector pension less expensive to fund than £10,000 of private sector pension.
Most of the 7 causes listed above are avoidable technical issues. Only increased longetivity is unavoidable, is less severe than it is made out to be and can me cancelled out by raising the pension age a few years. That wont please some people, but it is absurd that some people think is it OK to retire at the same age now as in 1929 when lots of people didnt even reach retirement age. Retire at 60? Absurd. Abolish final salary pensions? Unnecessary. Raise the pension age to 70? Too far.