For the NY State Comptroller Race equate Callahan with Enron

For the NY State Comptroller Race equate Callahan with Enron

By Mary MacElveen

October 30, 2006

In the race for New York State Comptroller which pits the Democrat incumbent Alan Hevesi against his Republican challenger, Chris Callahan to those who are vested in the New York State retirement fund, I want you to look at Callahan and think Enron.

Yes, Callahan wants to give you the freedom to invest your retirement in whichever way you so choose, in my opinion that is gambling with your future. He cited in a recent ‘New York 1’ debate that the economy was healthy and used the Dow as an example. One should never use the Dow as an economic indicator. It is a speculative game at best. It expands, then contracts, and expands again. One only has to remember the stock market crash of 1929 to know that as high as it reaches, it can come crashing down. We all remember how the Dot.com bubble burst, and as the Dow heats up; it may at one point explode. When that explosion occurs, so will your retirement funds.

In reading Forbes.com, please take note of this “David Tice manages the $682 million Prudent Bear Fund, and he believes the economy beneath the rallying stock market shows troubling economic signs.” I want you to think of that as you go to the polls next Tuesday. As we currently borrow billions of dollars from countries such as China which has put us into deficit spending, this is what Tice said “I believe that the credit expansion will end in tears,”

Those will be our tears if we unleash, Callahan to look over our $140 billion dollar pension fund.

Now pay close attention to this “Tice frets that many of those holding trillions of dollars in adjustable-rate mortgages won’t be able to handle their debt load. Result: defaults, foreclosures and a giant recession.” One wonders what will happen to the Dow at that point and investment dollars of those that went along with Callahan’s plan. This is not the first time that I have read dire warnings of an impending recession.

While I am no economic expert, what I do see is danger. Most of us simply do not have time to watch over investments and that is where we do need a watch dog in, Hevesi. He has successfully watched over a $140 billion dollar state pension fund.

As I was reading GAO Chief warns economic disaster looms, what spelled danger was this expert opinion coming from, David M. Walker who is the Comptroller General of the United States Government Accountability Office when he opined “The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.” I want to ask any reading this, is Chris Callahan telling you this important information with any debate or campaign commercial? While I will not point out every nuance of what this alarming article does say, I feel it important for all to read as we go to the polls on Election Day. We need an expert and that expert is New York State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi.

These are our retirement funds. I say our since I too depend upon this state pension fund. I do not want anyone gambling with my future, since the economic forecast looks bleak at best. This is NOT the time to switch horses’ mid-race.

In the beginning of this piece, I mentioned Enron when I asked you to compare that name with, Chris Callahan and this is the reason.

You will be alarmed as you read Enron’s troubles include state probes. Within this article it tells of the amount of money lost to those whose pension funds were invested in this company. As mentioned in this article, “Alliance held Enron stock until just two days before the company filed for bankruptcy, resulting in a loss to Florida’s pension fund of more than $300 million.” Again, this is where we do need an expert like Alan Hevesi to make sure that no losses are incurred to our pension plans.

But, it did not stop with Florida as you will read, “Losses across all states have been estimated at over $1 billion, but vary greatly from state to state. Tennessee lost $18 million, far less than even one percent of its $23 billion retirement fund. Ohio’s Public Employees Retirement Systems reported losses of roughly $59 million, also a tiny percentage of its $54 billion in total investments.”

In another article this is what AFSCME’s President Gerald McEntee stated“[The State Board of Administration’s] bad investment practices led to the massive loss of retirement funds for state employees...Governor Bush and the other trustees betrayed the faith put in them by Florida workers by putting their retirement security at risk.”89 Rather than learning from past mistakes, Governor Bush and his administration are rushing into another investment scheme that not only forces state education employees to prop up a company that believes in privatizing education but could also seriously compromise the state’s pension funds.” There is that “P” word privatizing rearing its ugly head again. Gee, and that Bush name pops up yet again.

In a campaign commercial the Hevesi campaign equates Callahan’s plan that will subvert our pension plan to that of George W. Bush’s Social Security plan and that sends frightening signals to not only me, but others. In the 2000 presidential race, we all remember when Al Gore said that he would protect our Social Security funds using a ‘lock box’. When Bush entered office, he sprung open that lock as if those funds were his. Well the same can be said of our pension funds. Next Tuesday, I will be thinking of that ‘lock box’ as I go into the voting booth and so should you.

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2006/10/30/2461187.html
*Please go to the link above in which I provided important links for all to read.