California proposal for state-run retirement plan for private-sector workers moves forward

[jpak]

Source: Los Angeles Times

California has taken a step closer to becoming the first state to make retirement savings accounts a near-universal benefit for workers with a plan that lawmakers hope will help ease an expected massive shortfall in retirement savings.

A state board Monday sent a set of recommendations to the Legislature calling for the creation of the California Secure Choice Retirement Plan — essentially a 401(k) plan operated by the state and open to private-sector workers whose employers don't offer a retirement savings plan.

Employees of any company with at least five workers would be eligible to participate. That would cover an estimated 6.8 million workers, about a third of California's labor force.

The plan calls for eligible workers to be signed up automatically by their employers and have 2% to 5% of their wages invested in the plan, unless workers opt out.

<more>

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mandatory-401k-20160329-story.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. This is part of the Privatization of Social Security plan by Third Way

15 States so far have set these up

[Baobab]

9. Whenever a public service has private competitors it now has to be privatized

Last edited Tue Mar 29, 2016, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

That's our dogma we push on other countries too. Has been for 20 years.

EDIT- Addition- The roots of this change are rooted in so called "Competition Policy" the core concept is that government should never compete with business in any way if a business exists to service that need. So if something like education or health care is sold it must be privatized. (For the classic example, see the text of GATS Article I:3 (b) and (c)- that same language is used in many other agreements)


We just successfully eliminated the right to public education in India. Privatizing the world is where we're going. Public is too efficient, not enough room for the many layers of corruption. Politicians need to give out perks.

Jobs are going away. God Bless America.



If people want countless references on this, PM me or simply search on the text of Article I:3 (c) of GATS . Newer FTAs seem to refer back to that definition of scope.

[Recursion]

10. Huh?

We just successfully eliminated the right to public education in India.

Eh? That's news here in India.

[Baobab]

16. Look under your WTO accession

Search terms WTO, GATS education.

Also, similar issues are arousing controversy in Europe, New Zealand, Canada.. US - US media had almost nothing.. But other countries had discussed it then and now with TISA-

Example: http://www.eua.be/activities-services/news/newsitem/15-02-05/EUA_Council_statement_on_TTIP_and_TISA.aspx

[Recursion]

17. Can you be more specific?

India certainly continues public education. Are you saying that's going to stop?

[Baobab]

24. NO - no more so than US public higher education has

Basically it is subjected to a "standstill" and competition policy starts applying which means it cannot "crowd out" commercial providers, so it cannot be too attractive. Corporations must get a level playing field no matter what country they are from.

Any subsidies or funds or contracts formerly channeled to domestic entities have to be available to non-local providers too in equal amounts.

Also awarding of contracts, on all levels will eventually be subject to international procurement procedures. So its possible that companies from other countries might staff schools or other former public services like hospitals with employees rotating in on a temporary basis. "Maximize the value in the supply chain".

That's the whole idea. A shift to profit making activity from non-profit. Otherwise as jobs vanish, countries would set up safety nets for people leaving the corporations out in the cold.

So starting in the 90s we created a system to prevent that and its been working.

[Recursion]

25. So you consider "opening procurement to foreign bidders" to be the same as "ending public education"

Got it

[Baobab]

28. Here are the specifics - read this closely

Make no mistake about it, the goal IS to get the governments out of all "services" that do not qualify as 'a service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority'


which ONLY

"means any service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more service suppliers."


Unless there were no private schools in India, it now must progressively liberalize


i.e. its now on a ONE WAY STREET to privatization.

[Baobab]

18. I'm sorry, my first answer was sort of perfunctory. This is kind of a really important

concept and its worth learning a lot about. Because its the cause of a great many problems.

If you want references on it, I would be happy to communicate with you via PMs and send you lots of info. There has been a decent amount of writing on competition policy, the scope of trade in service agreements and services liberalisation (or "privatization"called "disinvestment" in India)

The big pushes in the US to liberalisze services of course began with NAFTA and GATS and is continuing with the 3 pending t-deals and the WTO GPA likely too provide a platform for procurement of services-

And its been very controversial of course, people realize that it means the dumbing down and cheapening of everything but do not realize that these deals are whats causing it.

[Recursion]

19. The number of Indian students in public schools exceeds the total US population

Are you actually claiming that these schools are going to stop being public? Seriously?

I don't need "PMs with lots of info". This is a huge charge with implications for one-seventh of the world. If you have any evidence that public education in India is on its way out, please share with everyone.

[Baobab]

22. Ive been posting a great deal about this, basically in order to join GATS

India has had to make fundamental changes to allow more privatization of education and exchange they get market access to developed countries like the US with their services, for example, subcontracting in IT, healthcare and education - the US is claimed overseas to have a skilled labor shortage.

Did you see the recent interchange of WTO suits? - first ostensibly over over solar panels and now over L-1 and H1-B visa fees, but its actually over the scope of services liberalisation and movement of natural persons provisions. Quotas in particular. If WTO strikes down quotas, there will be huge changes. Basically, its the payoff for 20 years of globalization that the developing countries have been demanding.

[Recursion]

23. Where are you getting this idea?

India has had to make fundamental changes to allow more privatization of education and exchange they get market access to developed countries like the US with their services

Have you been reading Counterpunch?

Where on earth are you getting these crazy ideas? This is just silly.

Seriously. Not everything on the Internet is true. Particularly if it agrees with your predispositions, you should remind yourself that.

Public education in India is fine, and it's not going anywhere. You're being lied to.

[Baobab]

26. It seems that perhaps when I use certain phrases in posts they may have been hidden

But I guarantee to you this is no joke. Its literally been one of the biggest global trends of the last three decades.

One of our Presidential candidates is closely associated with it. So that may explain the paucity of information on it in the US and perhaps some other countries.

[Baobab]

27. HIGHER education first.

Can you go to the web site of the European University Association, let me know when you are there.

EUA dot BE Then when you are there, search on the following bolded terms, reversed, so take the gibberish words and reverse them to get the search terms.

STAG

ASIT

PITT

Especially a statement from January 30 or february 5 of 2015

Read it.

[Baobab]

30. There have been huge demonstrations there which the media is not covering

Poorer students are being effected greatly. They in many cases wont be able to afford to go to school.

Could you let me know which URLs you got and by that I will see which phrases dont get through.

[Recursion]

31. Where were these demonstrations?

I've been covering a lot of education demonstrations lately, and they're all about JNU and "anti-nationalism". How confident are you of these sources?

Are you asking which links that you sent me "got through"? Like DU is blocking them?

TheCompanion, Frontline, SabrangIndia, and DNAIndia

Are you familiar with the JNU protests?

[Baobab]

32. No, I have only just started following the situation there

The changes that are being made - elimination of safety nets, the push to lock-in bad economic policies and set these various groups against one another seems to be happening everywhere.

the cause of all this is exponential growth in technology. A great many jobs are going away for good. Due to automation. So what's going to happen is unclear. maybe genocide on a global scale. So that the winner can have it all to him or her self(s)

Because compassion is a slippery slope in this situation, since eventually without public education, nobody will be able to take the risk to get an education since there wont be any jobs.

Quite the global challenge, it is.

[Baobab]

33. I have just been searching on the WTO and GATS parts of it. Ive been seeing lots of things ike that.

The planet needs to start discussing all of these things. Shutting them out will backfire on whomever has decided to do that.

[Baobab]

34. The European University Association and the US and Canadian educational organizations say/have said

the same things.


-------------------



EUA Council statement on TTIP and TISA
05 February 2015

During its Council meeting of 30th January in Brussels, EUA unanimously adopted a statement on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).

The statement warns that TTIP and TiSA cast into doubt the ability of national and regional authorities to determine the nature of their Higher Education provisions and calls on the EU to make no commitments in the fields of higher and adult education.

Lesley Wilson, EUA Secretary General, has stressed that Higher Education is not a commodity to be transacted by commercial interests on a for-profit basis nor should it be subject to international trade regimes. Indeed higher education is a public responsibility which not only supports social cohesion but also addresses the growing needs of Europe’s labour markets.

EUA has also reiterated that while greater global governance is desirable, as far as higher education is concerned, it should develop on the model of the UNESCO-supported academic recognition frameworks, designed and implemented by the sector. The internationalisation of higher education has developed at a fast pace in recent years: collaborative research, staff and student mobility, open and distance learning - to name a few aspects - have all flourished, and have done so without the framework of trade agreements.

The document can be summarised in six points:

- Higher Education (HE) is a public responsibility to which all citizens must have right of access, and not a commodity to be transacted by commercial interests.

- TTIP and TISA create uncertainty on the ability of Member States to determine the nature of their HE systems due to the limited scope of legislative action once the agreement has come into force and the requirement that service liberalisation: (a) can never be reduced and (b) all future services must fall automatically within the scope of the agreements.

- Several HE systems include both public and private providers and many public institutions depend on a mixture of public and private funding. Such hybridity at institutional level means that TTIP and TiSA cannot be conducted with legal certainty and clarity.

- Domestic policy is threatened by the Investor State Dispute Mechanism (ISDS) which gives corporations the right to sue public authorities if they consider that local legislation obstructs their ability to generate ‘legitimate’ profit.

- The secrecy of the negotiations prevents the sector from understanding what specific aspects will impinge on its operating environment - not only on learning and teaching but also data collection, research and development, intellectual property and e-commerce.

- Higher education, unlike trade, is not an exclusive competence of the EU. Any commitments made in TTIP or in TiSA would go far beyond the scope of its complementary competence.

EUA has been monitoring developments with TTIP and TiSA for several months and will continue to lobby and put forward its views in the interests of higher education. More information on international trade agreements can be found here.

[Baobab]

29. it is news there, unlike here where it was hidden.

There are literally thousands of web pages there on this, unlike here where there was barely a peep..

http://thecompanion.in/fight-against-inclusion-of-higher-education-in-wto/

http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/education-as-commodity/article7866099.ece

https://sabrangindia.in/article/education-all-keep-out-wto-gats

http://www.dnaindia.com/locality/new-delhi/scholars-across-india-take-oath-resistance-delhi-against-corporatisation-knowledge-78369

there are a lot...

[JackInGreen]

2. How long until

one of the folks in charge with a (D) by their name starts talking about how THIS is the way of the future, and THIS is the only way to save our money starved system.

[Darb]

3. Sanders says it should be free.

So free it must be.

No savings aloud.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

5. And no depending on the stock market.

[Darb]

6. I know, hallelujah, I too love investing part of my income

at less than zero return.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

7. It's like playing the lottery with your life savings. Actually - just like it.

[Recursion]

14. You don't have to invest in securities if you don't want to

Hell, you can tell the plan to keep everything in a money market if you're absolutely opposed to actually growing your savings, for whatever reason.

[Baobab]

21. Sanders said nothing of the kind

GATS would forbid any changes that limited banks in any way or cut into their profits, I suspect. GATS led to the elimination of Glass-Steagall Act for example.

GATS likely would also forbid any expansion of Social Security, unfortunately. Along with health care. Health care changes being blocked by WTO GATS is a huge problem.

[reddread]

4. the next term if we let her win

[Baobab]

11. Regressive Taxation.

Last edited Tue Mar 29, 2016, 10:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Make the poorest pay the most. Funnel the money upward!


(just kidding)

[Recursion]

13. How long until a Democrat calls saving for retirement important? 1932. FDR

He introduced Social Security as a supplement to retirement savings.

Seriously what the hell is the matter with DU that people think this is a bad thing? Are people here sociopaths who don't want others to be able to retire?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. You're wasting your time.

Clearly, there are people at DU who haven't the slightest idea how a 401(k) plan works.

I mean, they don't have mutual funds in Cuba, so how could mutual funds be a good thing?

Best wishes.

[Kip Humphrey]

8. I don't suppose California could pass a progressive plan instead of one so regressive toward low

income workers. Sometimes I think California is the most libertarian of all the states.

[Recursion]

12. What the hell is "regressive" about this? (nt)

[valerief]

20. Save now so we can take your money later!

Those of us who've paid into 401Ks all our working years don't really expect to keep our money. We know "they" will take it via their bubbles-to-burst strategy.