European Nations Raiding Private Pension Funds

“Government Against the People” mentioned this possibility last year and was accused of indulging in conspiracy theories. We stand by our assertion that the same thing could happen here.

People’s retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don’t want to reduce spending or make privatizations. As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends. In recent weeks I have noted five such attempts: Three situations concern private personal savings; two others refer to national funds.

The most striking example is Hungary, where last month the government made the citizens an offer they could not refuse. They could either remit their individual retirement savings to the state, or lose the right to the basic state pension (but still have an obligation to pay contributions for it). In this extortionate way, the government wants to gain control over $14bn of individual retirement savings.

The Bulgarian government has come up with a similar idea. $300m of private early retirement savings was supposed to be transferred to the state pension scheme. The government gave way after trade unions protested and finally only about 20% of the original plans were implemented.

Read the rest at The Christian Science Monitor.

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New Jersey Wants to Seize Unused Gift Card Funds

Do you think you have the right to toss a gift card in a drawer for a couple of years and use it later? What, do you think the money is yours or something? Seriously, this is the equivalent of the completely busted-out state rummaging under the sofa cushions for random change. And it presses the precedent that your assets belong to the state whenever the state says it does.

The New Jersey Treasury Department has signaled it won’t abandon its effort to seize unused money on gift cards and traveler’s checks.

State Treasurer Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff has told a U.S. District Court judge in Newark that the state will appeal a Nov. 13 ruling that temporarily struck down a new law concerning seizures that was enacted in July as part of Governor Christie’s budget.

The legislation amended part of the state Uniform Unclaimed Property Act to include gift cards for the first time, allowing the state to consider a card abandoned two years after purchase and seize the balance.

Read more at NewJersey.com.

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Britons Plan ‘Huge’ Protest Over Government Cuts

File this article under “civil unrest.” The year 2011 may well be the year of the popular uprising as austerity hits home throughout the developed world. The unrest will be more acute in Europe than in the U.S. because the U.S. isn’t as highly socialized and fewer people are dependent on government largess—so far.

Unions are gearing up for a demonstration in the spring against the Government’s massive cuts in public spending, predicting it will be a “huge” national event.

The TUC is organising the protest in London on March 26 and said that by then, the impact of the austerity measures will have started to take hold, with an expected loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

Union members from across the UK are set to join the demonstration in London’s Hyde Park, which will follow a series of protests in recent weeks against increases in student tuition fees and cuts in public services.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “People have yet to feel the full impact of the Government’s cuts. When they do – as we saw with the cancellation of the schools building programme – they have been angry.

“But in 2011 thousands of people will lose their jobs and councils will have little choice about slashing away at popular and vital services.

“As it becomes more and more obvious that the cuts bear down on those who did least to cause the crash, while those who were responsible continue to live in their bonus-driven super-rich bubble, people will get even angrier.”

Read more at The Independent.

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