Some very interesting facts about Congress' retirement plan

[dixiegrrrrl]

( Includes all Federal employees, all military also )
The plan is administered by The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.
And who is the head of the 5 person Board?

A Bush appoined Republican, millionaire, Bush Pioneer name of Andrew Saul.
"Saul was a Bush pioneer in 2000 and 2004, raising over $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and has contributed to numerous Republican candidates and served on the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Along with Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan, Saul is a trustee of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a prominent conservative think-tank which promotes limited government and free-market principles whose mission is to "develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility" and has hosted policy speeches by then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in 2002 and both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in 2006.
His daughter, Jennifer Saul Yaffa, is the National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee from the New York Republican State Committee. She is also head of the Manhattan GOP."

guess where the money is? Barclay Bank.
Guess what Barclay has been up to?
A. Involvement with South Africa under apartheid
B.Financial support for the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe
C.Accusations of money laundering
D.Senior management bonuses in 2008
E. Tax avoidance
F. Links to the arms trade
G. AIG
( In March 2009 it was reported that in 2008, Barclays received billions of dollars from its insurance arrangements with AIG, including $8.5bn from funds provided by the United States taxpayers to bail out AIG.

Guess who audits the plan? Deloitte & Touche

Do you think this may influence some Congressional decisions?

edited to add:
Barclay's bought Lehman Bros. Real cheaply. Did anyone notice that?????



All information came fron Wiki and google news sources.

[AwakeAtLast]

1. This needs a Kick to go with all of the Rs

:kick:

Very interesting indeed.

:kick:

[Po_d Mainiac]

2. agreed n/t

[girl gone mad]

3. Good info. n/t

[westerebus]

4. No.

The TSP is very closely regulated and very transparent.

The "investments" made by Wall Street and the uber wealthy buy a whole lot more influence in Congress and the White House. Rubin came from Citi, Paulson from Goldman, Geitner from the NY FED, and on and on.

You do have a point though. Why hasn't the current administration found a replacement? A taxing question? Pun intended.

[tomp]

5. very interesting, nt/rec

[OneBlueSky]

6. that Congress can and does grant themselves unbelievable perks . . .

like the world's best health insurance and pensions that will keep them all wealthy for the rest of their lives is a disgrace . . . Congressional perks should be decided by a commission of U.S. citizens who are these people's employers . . . and they should be no better or no worse that what the majority of the rest of us receive . . .

the problem with Congress these days is that the system of checks and balances that the founders so carefully crafted is simply ignored . . . leaving all three branches to do pretty much as they damn well please . . . in the case of Congress, more than anything that amounts to taking care of a) themselves, b) their supporters, and c) the status quo . . . until that changes, nothing much else will . . .