The Reality of Social Security Privatization

[miriam_e]

http://www.alternet.org/module/feed/mobile/?storyID=21690

I know various people who have seen their now-privatised superannuation funds entirely eaten up by greedy corporate charges. One friend, growing alarmed at how it kept getting smaller instead of bigger went to the bank to withdraw what remained (normally you are not allowed to, but there is a hardship loophole) and the bank clerk told him "Oh, sorry, the last of it just disappeared in charges."

Comments

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

Jesus. How the hell does that work?

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

It doesn't very well, unless you are a bank... and then it is a wonderful license to suck the blood of the poor.

What worries me is that we are an aging population and the Australian government keeps looking to the US model of neglecting the poor, the old, the marginalised. What happens when all these people need to survive in a system that withdraws the last strut of social support?

All these people will finish their working lives without any money to live on. Or worse, realise that they have to work till they drop, having been cheated out of their retirement by a bunch of greedy corporations and weak politicians.

But I guess not much will change. Right-wing Politicians and corporations have managed one of the most amazing cons in history. They somehow manage to convince the poor and marginalised to vote their own futures down the toilet. It is an astonishing trick. They will somehow convince the old population that it is their own fault that they don't have retirement money and that they have to work for slave wages for the remainder of their lives, and that it is for the good of the country. They will convince parents that it is to their children's benefit that they can't look forward to accessible education or health care or that they can expect sub-minimum wages for the forseeable future.

Meanwhile other countries that see value in their people will flower.

Hopefully we will learn before it gets too bad.

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

I've had super for 20 years and it's not been eaten by fees. Yes, it's being eaten more now than it used to be, but that's because I've been too slack to move some of it.

It's no different to banking: There are lots of alternatives out there. There are big ones with big fees and there are better alternatives. Good employers have offered good super choices in the past. The downfall has been that plenty of crap employers didn't care and didn't offer a decent option, but that'll be fixed from July 1.

I've been slightly lucky: The only job I've done with no decent super options was some vic public service work which was short enough that I was able to cash it out after I'd finished. Had to argue with them a bit though. ("No, I don't want the insurance that you're deducting without having ever asked me!" ... "No, I won't accept paying fees for 3 months when I want the money immediately and your paperwork is what's slowing it down!")