tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8484971800305441825.post7841876220888134512..comments2013-04-30T18:59:47.386-07:00Comments on Paddy on Pensions: The Government’s raid on the Royal Mail Pension FundPaddy Briggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17847108655078927970noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8484971800305441825.post-43198480166018153742012-03-19T02:03:48.967-07:002012-03-19T02:03:48.967-07:00Does this mean the Treasury thinks investment retu...Does this mean the Treasury thinks investment returns on assets will be nil or negative over the next 30-40 years? That's the only logical, long-term justification for selling off the assets today. Treasury officials don't say that when you ask them why they're selling them off, however. The best they can come up with is "The government is not an asset manager". To which I replied, "What about the British Coal schemes?" "Ah, well they're not in deficit" - as if that made all the difference. So the government proposes to deal with a £9bn deficit by creating a £34bn one. Brilliant. <br /><br />On the unions, I suspect Henry's right, they see the unfunded public schemes as more "secure" than non-fully-funded private-sector ones. They obviously feel the British government is one of the safest bets out there. And of course the credit ratings agencies agree (for the moment).Mark Cobleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05939960614450005598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8484971800305441825.post-9388913190901008572012-03-19T01:19:30.287-07:002012-03-19T01:19:30.287-07:00Paddy
I agree with you and I’m surprised that thi...Paddy<br /><br />I agree with you and I’m surprised that this move has been welcomed by the unions.<br /><br />It may be that they consider that members have more chance of getting a 100% pay out from an unfunded public sector scheme than from a partially funded scheme with a weak employer convenent. <br /><br />But I suspect that as time goes by, the security that active and defferred members currently enjoy will be diluted and once the “windfall” has been absorbed into the national defecit, the liabilities, that don’t appear on any balance sheet, will be considered as “another Government’s issue”.<br /><br />I think the immediate consideration will be future accrual but the RPI/CPI switch suggests that existing benefits are not as safe as might be imagined.Henry Tapperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10862595817164238922noreply@blogger.com