MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Fat Cat CEOs Condemn Seniors to a Life of Cat Food According to a just-released Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Center for Effective Government report, "Platinum-Plated Pensions: The Retirement Fortune of CEOs Who Want to Cut Your Social Security":

Business Roundtable CEOs’ corporate retirement accounts average $14.5 million—more than 1,200 times as much as the median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age.

A retirement fund of $14.5 million, combined with Social Security, would generate a monthly retirement check for these CEOs of $88,576. That’s 68 times what a typical U.S. retiree can expect to receive.

Ten Roundtable CEOs (including four who are also Fix the Debt members) have retirement plans valued at more than $50 million.

Three of these CEOs have retirement assets of more than $100 million: John Hammergren of McKesson, David Cote of Honeywell, and Mike Duke of Wal-Mart.

Duke’s $113.2 million retirement fund is more than 7,500 times as large as his employees’ average 401(k) account balance of $15,000.

But there is nary a voice in Congress or the corporate media advocating austerity for the super-rich. According to the Social Security Administration, the current average Social Security benefit is a measly $1,269 -- and remember recipients paid into the fund and are being repaid their earnings in the form of barely livable retirement checks.

The economic inequity in the US, as often noted here, is only growing, reaching beyond a Grand Canyon gap. It's more like an intergalactic distance when CEO advocates of cutting Social Security have accumulated retirement accounts "more than 1,200 times as much as the median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age."

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As IPS comments on the report, "In the current budget debate, the loudest calls for Social Security cuts are coming from two lobby groups led by CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security." The two groups under scrutiny are The Business Roundtable and a public relations front group called Fix the Debt.

There's a certain point when the accumulation of money by a few reaches such an extraordinary amount that they can continue increasing the inequity even more through the power of their assets.

This report reinforces that we have crossed that precipice.

“As Congress heads toward another budget showdown, the loudest calls for cutting Grandma’s benefits are coming from CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security,” said Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies Global Economy Director.



Austerity for the multi-millionaires and billionaires?

Posh! They are running the ship of state and aren't about to yield the steering wheel. They'll just let those below decks survive on cat food.

(Photo: Roadsidepictures)