Reader Submission: Will Christine Lagarde be the savior in need as Mario Draghi's successor?
Minster Great Tit (Nancy Beijersbergen / Shutterstock.com)
Last weekend, almost all media reported that a debate with Minister Koolmees of Social Affairs took place in the House of Representatives last Thursday. Of course about the pensions. 50PLUS had already requested this debate a year ago, but now it all turned out to be all the more urgent because many a pension fund had already issued fire letters earlier in the week because of impending cuts.
The Pension Federation warned that paying out 8% less could turn out to be a conceivable scenario. The purpose of the previously concluded pension agreement was precisely to prevent discounts and higher premiums, but the unstable financial markets and the resulting low actuarial interest rates negate that objective. All signals are now red, the pension sector association reported. The US trade war with China unleashed by Trump, plus rumors of new monetary moves from the European Central Bank, and then the Brexit chaos, also do no good, let alone a penny in the pocket.
Minister Koolmees promised the House of Representatives to enter into talks with the pension funds in the short term to find a solution to avert impending cuts. We must already talk about the implementation of the concluded pension agreement. The occurrence of discounts can then be added to the agenda, and further notice can be expected in December.
www.nu.nl/politics/5988579/koolmees-gaat-met-pensioensector-in-overzicht-over-possible-discounts.html
Coincidentally, Christine Lagarde, at that time still director of the International Monetary Fund, made her appearance in the European Parliament in Brussels a day earlier, last Wednesday. Ms Lagarde is almost likely to become the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) as of November 1, succeeding the Italian Mario Draghi. In particular, she was questioned by Dutch parliamentarians about the low interest rate, and she was once again informed that this interest rate is causing problems for many savers in the EU. But Lagarde did not dismiss those questions. She stated that she does indeed think it is time to review the ECB's monetary policy, including the current low interest rate policy. She couldn't make any promises, and she didn't want to create false expectations. "I'm not a fairy," she said. www.volkskrant.nl/es-be34b498
Submitted by RuudB
No, they will not be the savior in need, because they will continue with their policies, the destruction of the euro and thus keep the population poor.
That kind of left-wing politics only leads to a third world war and that the poor countries become even poorer so that they can take over everything there,
Europe is being turned into one big industrial area and those rich greedy people will soon live in other countries while Europe is one big Labor ghetto, The New World Order, and everyone continues to vote on the left.
The EU must break up
The lie reigns , do the pension funds invest so badly ?
While my investments grow?
The pension funds make a real return on their equity positions, but they are legally obliged to invest a large part in government bonds, which currently yield either 0% or sometimes negative interest. Therein lies the problem.
The debate in the second chamber was a humiliating experience for me. Only a limited number of spokespersons from the political parties were present. Corrie van Brenk, aged 50 plus, was able to put into words what is going on reasonably well. The other representatives did not give the impression that they were well informed. Everyone was constantly talking about the actuarial interest rate, a fictitious percentage. The word return, which is actually the point, has hardly been mentioned.
No one questioned the fact that at the current interest rate levels a system based on capital funding is unsustainable. Without a return, you cannot already secure future pensions in 40 to 60 years' time. This would lead to absurd premiums. For the time being, the solution is sought in not indexing and even shortening those who have saved the unimaginably large reserve amounts, while logic says that future pensions should primarily be saved together by future pension participants.
Minister Koolmees is on the leash of the Dutch Bank and Dijsselbloem, which represent very different interests than those of the pension participants. They want not only not to use the pension reserves, but to allow them to grow endlessly in order to maintain the creditworthiness of the BV in the Netherlands. However, they forget that the money a. is not theirs and b. is not intended for that. Ms Lagarde is not expected to change course for the time being. The path taken by the ECB, which keeps the southern countries, including France, in the air, will simply be continued until the bomb bursts.
What you say is not quite true.
The current reserves have not only been built up by current pensioners, but by everyone who has already paid pension premiums, including people who have not yet received a pension.
Whether that has only been paying premium once, or for 1 years.
The discount on pensions also applies to future retirees, not just to people who have already retired.
After all, any future indexations will take place over the reduced pension benefit.
From Mrs. We shouldn't expect anything from Lagarde. She stated that she will continue Draghi's policy; that means keeping interest rates artificially low (for the benefit of the southern European countries!). The ECB's policy is at the expense of our pensions; It is completely incomprehensible to me that the Dutch government accepts this.
I read that lagarde is going to review the policy now I'm reading several posts again.
The money transfer from North to South has been going on for much longer, it is the price we pay for the Euro.
Merkel is currently a “sitting duck”, Macron celebrates all successes; The French La Garde the new head of the Central Bank, the francophone German former minister Ursula von der Leyen who failed on defense and is rather docile, as President of the European Commission.
In short, France is the boss and get used to a lower pension and an even stronger Baht.
See also The Nation 27 Aug. econ Thailand as “save haven”.
Well, 10 years ago people still received a reward for savings in the form of interest.
The Greeks retire from your pension.
EU prestige project with all new residents coming in paid by hardworking people.
Nice to watch the NOS propaganda of rutteclub that you also pay yourself.
And then vote again.
I don't blame the Brexiters. What do you mean Brexit chaos.
Don't count on it. Due to the persistently high debt burdens of the southern European countries in particular, the EU cannot afford to raise interest rates. That would eat up too much of the GDP to pay the interest.
In addition, Lagarde has already indicated that she wants to support a green policy, read: printing even more money to fund climate measures.
Lagarde has been chosen over Northern European hawks (such as the German Weidmann) because they want to phase out the stimulus measures.
But that did not suit the Frenchman Macron, who of course already has great difficulty keeping the Yellow Vests at bay in his own country, and cannot implement major reforms. The prosperous Northern European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Finland have to pay the toll, and therefore also the pensioners.
The Eurozone will fall apart into a Neuro and Zeuro zone within 5-10 years, otherwise the EU as a whole will collapse.
Ms. Lagarde indicated that she continues to follow the course of her predecessor.
French, we know from the past how the more southern countries deal with their wallets: budget deficits, weak currencies. So keep on dreaming.
As far as pension funds are concerned: complain to the bone, implement cuts and be told from the other side that they have an awful lot of fat on their ribs. What government is jealous of (creaming off).
You used to be able to retire from the interest on your savings.
You can now earn an income from the interest on your debts.
The opposite world. Where's the end?
that awful lot of fat on the bones is demagoguery. A correction below.
Everyone knows that if you want to know how rich or poor you are, you start by adding up the value of your assets and subtracting your debts. The same applies to pension funds. They have a lot of money (a lot of fat on their bones) but a debt to pay out all pensions to the participants. Both current and future. It is precisely the latter that gives a lot of room for a lot of demagoguery, which is particularly popular with the uninitiated.
The discussion is mainly about the expectation of how much should be in the pot, how high the obligations, ie debts, of the pension fund are now and in the future. In recent decades, the returns on investments over the years have been roughly 4 to 6%. The discussion NOW is how high the yields will be in the coming many years. This is where the central bank comes in. Their policies ensure that the expected returns in the future will be zero or even below zero. Then the current fat disappears quickly and skimpy hans becomes master! By the way, I don't feel the need to participate in a discussion about this. The pension funds and all other stakeholders have already done this to death. Just need to raise a finger if demagoguery is being practiced. NONE of the participants have done that during the debate on this subject in recent years. No one has claimed that there was a lot of fat on the bones.!!
If interest rates fall, the value of the bonds increases. Although the interest income is not, but still..., the ownership of pension funds is growing in value. The question should therefore be: Do pension funds sufficiently offset their increased value with the assumed correct coverage ratio? Naturally, one must also take into account a rising interest rate at any time, which will reduce the asset value of the bond. But then rising interest income will compensate for the loss of value. It seems to me that pension funds are presenting too negative a story.
Lagarde, she hasn't even been acquitted of fraud, they supposedly couldn't find any evidence.
It is known that the EU wants the pension money from the Netherlands, it is 600 billion.
The EU is aiming to get everything done at the expense of the citizens, with our great leader, Flip Rutte.
Perhaps you can cite a source for that – in my view – nonsensical claim that the EU wants the pension money of the Netherlands! Or are you just one of many who blame the EU for everything?
There is no source for that, fake news. But some allow themselves to be driven mad, the EU and The Hague as undemocratic big bogeymen with nefarious plans to screw us over. Of course it sells nice news like this. Facts freely follow the gut and get a good creep.
“Is Europe now about Dutch pensions?
The revised EU pension rules do not mean that any power or competences will be transferred to the EU. Dutch pension funds can continue to organize pensions as they wish. The pension money remains with the Dutch participants. So no pension money goes to the EU. Pension funds do not have to pay money to the EU.”
Source: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/pensioen/europese-regels-voor-pensioenen
For more, see: https://www.thailandblog.nl/expats-en-pensionado/lezersinzending-wetenswaardige-pensioenfeitjes/#comment-564253