The 1% - - Kill Pensions by Rigging Bond Ratings

I saw a piece the other day that I bookmarked – cause well you never know.

Couldn’t figure out if it was a snark or real  - cause the one agenda I have seen for the meeting doesn’t mention a gala.  Netiher does ALEC’s webpage.

But hell – why not keep the link.

Glad I did - cause it opened my eyes to a new danger that no one has probably heard about - and they should.

The real action will arrive on that Thursday with the appearance of the well-heeled powerbrokers from the Civic Committee of theCommercial Club of Chicago.  And we can expect to behold a goodly number of the plutocrats who hold membership in more than just the city’s esteemed coalition of industrial/financial elite.  In fact, over half of the roster of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club is connected in membership, support, or past affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).   

One SCARY GROUP OF FOLKS

Civic Committee members with Ties to ALEC, after a cursory investigation:

A.T. KEARNEY, INC.

ABBOTT

ALLSTATE

ALLSTATE ,

AMERICAN AIRLINES,

AON CORPORATION,  

AT&T,ALLSTATE ,

BANK of AMERICA,

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL,

BOEING,

BOOZ & COMPANY

BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP,

CITADEL, LLC,

CITIGROUP,

CME GROUP,

DELOITTE LLP,

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES,

DUCHOSSOIS GROUP,

ERNST & YOUNG LLP,

EXELON Corp ,

EXELON CORP,

FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS CORPORATION

FIRST CHICAGO NBD CORP

GOLDMAN SACHS & CO.

GROSVENOR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT,

GTCR LLC,

HILLSHIRE BRANDS,  

HYATT HOTELS,

ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS,

INTEGRYS ENERGY GROUPACCENTURE

ITW,

JEWEL COMPANIES (OSCO) ,

JONES LANG LASALLE ,

JP MORGAN CHASE

KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP,

LASALLE BANK,

 LEO BURNETT,

MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS,

MARMON GROUP,

MAYER BROWN LLP

MCKINSEY & Co

MESIROW FINANCIAL,

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS,

NICOR GAS,

PNC BANK,

PRICEWATERHOUSE COOPERS, LLP,

PSP CAPITAL,

REYES HOLDING,

SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP,

TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY,

UBS INVESTMENT BANK,  

UNITED STATIONERS,

W W GRAINGER,

WALGREEN, CO

WINSTON & STRAWN LLP,

ZURICH NORTH AMERICA,

One SCARY GROUP OF FOLKS

Especially when you consider this from 8 months ago

llinois’ public-employee pensions system is so far in debt that it is “unfixable,” an influential business group said Wednesday.

The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago told its members in a memo that even current retirees’ benefits must be cut and other drastic action taken to prevent pension-program bankruptcy, the memo said.

And this published on Alternet this past week:

Bombshell: Plutocrats Brazenly Collude to Hurt State Economies and Screw Working People

These days, many Americans walk around feeling like no matter how hard they work, how much they manage to save or how carefully they plan for the future, the game is rigged against them. They suspect that behind closed doors, CEOs and Wall Street honchos are eagerly scheming to rip them off.

Their worst fears of corruption and collusion just came true in Illinois, where corporate titans were caught red-handed in the act of Rigging the Game.

Let’s step inside a recent gathering of the corporate-backed Union League Club of Chicago, where former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner, who now leads a band of plutocrats known as the “Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago,” recently launched into an hour-long diatribe on the evils of state pensions

During Fahner’s talk to the Union League Club, an unidentified person in the audience suggested that pressuring credit agencies to rig the state bond ratings in order to attack pensions might be a jolly good idea. Fahner gleefully replied that he had already thought about that — and his group has tried it.

an unidentified person in the audience suggested that pressuring credit agencies to rig the state bond ratings

Fahner gleefully replied that he had already thought about that — and his group has tried it.

 

You gotta read the whole thing:

>>>HERE<<<