(PatrioticPost.com)- America’s retirement and pension plans are experiencing the side effect of the Biden administration’s reeling economy. The retirement plans of countless Americans are hanging in the balance as speculation continues to grow around the Federal Reserve’s rising interest rates intended to combat inflation, according to Just the News.
In response to the predicament, Biden has reportedly used taxpayer dollars to bail out the pension plans mostly funded by unions.
2022 saw inflation rates reach a 40-year high, which was largely spurred by untamed federal deficit spending that is continuing to grow as the result of bigger and bigger spending packages passed by Congress. While the Federal Reserve tries to slow down and reverse the course of inflation, market volatility has ensued, affecting individual and professional retirement funds alike.
June 2022 saw a major market collapse that erased around $3 trillion from American retirement accounts. Pension funds also reported substantial losses. The Louisiana Firefighters’ Retirement System reported a $247.4 million drop in the fiscal year 2022. The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund is also experiencing financial difficulties following the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, in which it was heavily invested.
Municipal pension funds in Pennsylvania were recently discovered following a 2022 audit to be grossly mismanaged with some individuals being overpaid and funds underfunded.
Analysts are suggesting that pension funds may not be prepared to deal with existing market volatility and an economy that some are saying will continue to recede in 2023. Cash holdings in government pension funds are lower today than they were during the financial crisis of 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Following the crises experienced by these pension funds, the Biden administration stepped in to bail them out via the Public Benefit Guaranty Corporation which provides security plans and rescues ill-managed funds. The bailouts came from the Special Financial Assistance Program created in the 2021 American Rescue Plan.
