Nothing new under the sun!
As it was in the time of Augustus Caesar two-thousand years ago as it is now!
"The latest casualty in the global pension catastrophe is…"
From the Sovereign man Internet web site the article by Simon Black that initial portion copied in entirety the original tip from Chuck.
"In the year 6 AD, the Roman emperor Augustus set up a special trust fund known as the aerarium militare, or military treasury, to fund retirement pensions for Rome’s legionnaires."
"Now, these military pensions had already existed for several centuries in Rome. But the money to pay them had always been mixed together in the government’s general treasury."
"So for hundreds of years, mischievous senators could easily grab money that was earmarked for military pensions and redirect it elsewhere."
"Augustus wanted to end this practice by setting up a special fund specifically for military pensions."
"And to make sure there would be no meddling from any government officials, Augustus established a Board of Trustees, consisting of former military commanders, to oversee the fund’s operations."
"Augustus really wanted this pension fund to last for the ages. And to keep a steady inflow of revenue, he established a 5% inheritance tax in Rome that would go directly to the aerarium militare."
"He even capitalized the fund with 170,000,000 sesterces of his own money, worth about half a billion dollars in today’s money." [See previous blog entry the purchasing power of Roman currency at the time!]
"But as you can probably already guess, the money didn’t last."
SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES IN THE UNITED STATES PLACED INTO THE GENERAL REVENUES DURING THE VIETNAM WAR IN MEASURE PAYING FOR THE CONFLICT. SOMETHING THAT WAS NEVER TO OCCUR BECAME SO! AND HAS NOT CHANGED SINCE!
CLEVER SENATORS BEING CLEVER! ROME FROM TIMES OF YORE, UNITED STATES TODAY! SENATORS! SOLONS! WISE MEN? SURE!
coolbert.