Free Republic

A Staten Island power couple made up of the district attorney and a state Supreme Court judge are under scrutiny for “double dipping” by taking in hefty taxpayer-funded salaries and pensions. Both DA Michael McMahon and Judge Judith McMahon are getting paid six-figure salaries while also collecting government pensions that are likely more than $100,000, The Post has learned. DA McMahon “retired” from government service in December — while remaining the borough’s chief prosecutor — and now collects a pension that is likely upwards of $130,000. McMahon, 66, a former legislative staffer, councilman and congressman before becoming district attorney in...

The financial landscape for many Americans is far from secure, as recent studies shed light on the alarming state of savings at life’s end. According to a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a significant portion of Americans – 46% to be exact – exit life with a sobering financial snapshot: $10,000 or less in their savings accounts. This revelation strikes at the heart of the retirement crisis narrative, contrasting the security of pension plans and Social Security benefits with the harsh truth of inadequate personal savings. The study followed seniors from 1993 to 2008, revealing a complex...

In fiscal 2022, 70 percent of the largest cities in the U.S. did not have enough money to pay their bills. In the latest comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of the 75 most populous cities in the U.S., 53 did not have enough money to pay all of their bills, according to a Truth in Accounting analysis of the latest annual comprehensive financial reports from 2022. In its eighth annual Financial State of the Cities report, TIA found that the 75 largest cities in the U.S. had $307.4 billion worth of assets available to pay bills but their debt,...

Count Peter Schweizer among the “doubters” of the Biden administration’s choice of former Commerce Secretary and major Democratic donor Penny Pritzker to lead U.S. efforts to channel private sector reconstruction assistance to Ukraine. Pritzker, the heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and a real estate mogul herself, was corrupt and self-dealing during her commerce department tenure under President Barack Obama, which Schweizer documented in a 12-page chapter of his book, Secret Empires. “You really wonder who’s going to benefit from all this,” Schweizer said of the aid money headed to Ukraine. “Yet, here comes Penny Pritzker… She has no moral...

Woke governance that has sent profits spiraling at companies like Anheuser-Busch and Target often begins with lefty investment firms pressuring them to push products their way, an ex-top Anheuser-Busch exec said. ... Anson Frericks said behind-the-scenes politicking from firms like New York-based BlackRock and Pennsylvania-based Vanguard spur many of the controversial decisions sparking nationwide boycotts from longtime more conservative customers — such as the ill-fated Bud Light promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney He said BlackRock, Vanguard, and another firm, State Street, manage about $20 trillion in capital and use their clout to promote agenda politics being pushed on them...

In committee last week a key provision of legislation proposed by the National Assembly lawmakers from France's overseas territories taken out. That was the part restoring France's retirement age to 62. When the full assembly take on the legislation next week there will be an effort to put it back in... This week President Emmanuel Macron forced to clarify comments of his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne... Next Tuesday (June 6th) will be a nationwide day of strikes and protest against President Macron's imposition of pension reform... The First Live Video From Paris Today Of Yellow Vests Protest. A protester in...

New York City teachers, cops and firefighters lost nearly $30 million in pension funds tied to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Critics accuse Comptroller Brad Lander, who is custodian of the pension systems, of favoring the “woke” bank over shareholders. Five city pension funds had a total of $41,867,214 invested in the doomed bank as of Jan. 31, according to data provided by the comptroller’s office under a Freedom of Information request by The Post. The comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management oversees the investment portfolios. Among the largest funds left holding the bag were the Teachers Retirement System, which...

Top Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol say they are working on a plan to send more state money to local governments across the state, but the city of Milwaukee this week added a bit of urgency to that work. On Monday, Milwaukee’s Steering and Rules Committee proposed cutting the city’s entire sixth police district to find the money to pay Milwaukee’s skyrocketing pension payment. "The gloomiest days are ahead of us when really we should be building for the future," Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said. Milwaukee is also looking at deep cuts to its fire department, as well as other city...

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law his government's highly unpopular pension reforms, which raise the state pension age from 62 to 64. It happened hours after France's top constitutional body cleared the change. The Constitutional Council rejected opposition calls for a referendum - but it also struck out some aspects of the reforms, citing legal flaws. Following the council's ruling, protesters set fires across Paris and 112 people were arrested. Twelve days of demonstrations have been held against the reforms since January. Unions have vowed to continue opposing the reforms, and called on workers across France to return...

A growing wave of public pension administrators, business groups and labor unions are sending a message to Republicans looking to curb so-called “woke” investing: our money, our choice. Regulatory efforts to stop money from going to funds that consider environmental, social and governance issues, commonly known as ESG investing, have typically targeted big Wall Street asset managers. Now, public pensions are increasingly caught in the crosshairs and with them the retirement funds of teachers, librarians, firefighters and other public service employees. But while opponents of the anti-ESG restrictions are getting louder, their dissent hasn’t yet stopped the tide. ESG investing...

The French National Assembly rejected a vote of no-confidence against the Government of Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, in the aftermath of the massive weekend protests over the French government pension plan. This defeat of the motion means that the Prime Minister will not have to resign, and that Macron’s tyrannical pension overhaul will become law. This is one of the biggest political crisis endured by the 45-year-old French President. Macron invoked a controversial executive power to force through his deeply unpopular pension overhaul by decree, without a parliamentary vote. Among other rejected provisions, it raises the retirement...

It’s not just silicon valley folks, a very large pension plan in Sweden was invested heavily in the Silicon Valley Bank. The fallout from Silicon Valley Bank has spread to Sweden’s largest pension group after the fund more than doubled its holdings in the Californian bank during the past year. Stockholm-based Alecta, which oversees more than $104 billion in assets, was SVB’s fourth-biggest shareholder at the end of last year with a holding worth $605 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Following a 60% plunge in SVB’s stock on Thursday, the value of the stake was worth only $279...

Interest rates are an important driver of the economy and financial markets. And what has happened to the S&P 500 index since The Federal Reserve started raising their target rate on May 4, 2023 to fight surging inflation? Since that fatal day, the S&P 500 index has fallen -6% and equity REITs (commercial real estate) has fallen -16%. Although The Fed has pledged to keep raising rates to fight inflation (and further decimate retirement accounts), investors are pointing to a peak (terminal) Fed rate of 5.44% at the September 2023 FOMC meeting. Then rate cuts following the September 2023 meeting....

Ukraine has a mixed record on attracting foreign private investment. In 2021, it ranked as the second-lowest country in Europe on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, behind only Russia. Vavrishchuk said the country would need to enforce the rule of law, ensure transparency and fair competition. "Participation in the post-war reconstruction could be attractive for investors," he said. "But still we will have to address all those issues (transparency and corruption) that we have not had time to before the war began."

QUESTION: Marty; Why would Biden allow the billions he is sending to fill the pensions of government workers in Ukraine? ANSWER: This video has been going viral. However, this was from the beginning – of April 28th, 2022. The pensions are all the Ukrainian politicians – not the people. This is the kickback for destroying their own country. As long as they are being paid by the United States, they will allow this civil war to continue unabated. This money going to Ukraine is filling the pockets of Ukrainian politicians against their own people. This was not from Biden’s surprise...

The US will provide additional economic assistance of $10 billion to Ukraine in the coming days, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday. At a media briefing held on the sidelines of the first G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ (FMCBG) Meet, she said that the United States had already provided 46 billion dollars in security, economic and humanitarian aid.

A video clip from April 2022 of President Joe Biden requesting American taxpayer money to pay Ukrainian pensions has resurfaced, prompting anger as the nation debates reform of social security in America, which is projected to be depleted by the mid-2030s. In the circulated video, Biden says: It’s going to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance as well as food, water, medicines, shelter, and other aid to Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s war, and provide aid to those seeking refuge in other countries from Ukraine.

Biden bragged about paying pensions for Ukrainians, But we hit the debt limit and his Treasury Secretary is taking “extraordinary measures,” Which means Biden is now literally selling investments of US pensions to fund Ukrainian pensions. [CNN Politics and WH.gov referenced at the URL].

Joe Biden just announced the US is going to be supporting the pensions in Ukraine. https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1626779089984946176

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in France on Saturday in a fourth day of action against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, with unions planning to ramp up strikes if the plan is not dropped. Unlike on the three previous protest days there was no call for a day of nationwide strikes, although air traffic controllers at Paris' second airport staged a surprise walkout that resulted in the cancellation of half of flights. Macron and his government face a two-way fight to implement the plan to raise to pension age from 62 to 64 by overcoming resistance...