>>>Fernando
>>
>>Fernando;
>>
>>I would like to think not but where there is money...
>>
>>A well known doctor on local television in Northern and Southern California made a statement about doctors in our country. "85% are incompetent"! Imagine more doctors in the United States!
>>
>>The reality of medical care in the United States is that of a “sick industry”. Twenty years ago the doctors made the rules. Many if not most incorporated for legal reasons. They made investments in many business ventures. Many felt that they were more important than the service they “provided”.
>>
>>Today we have many millions of Americans without health insurance or health care. HMO’s control the medical insurance industry and medicine. We now term anything to do with health care “the health care industry”! Pharmaceutical companies, doctors, insurance companies, etc. along with politicians make the laws and provide the service.
>>
>>Now a $6 an hour (minimum wage by federal law) telephone clerk reads a script and decides if you will receive medical care that may save your life. But if you do not have insurance that is your problem. Few hospitals will care for anyone without money or insurance.
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>>A friend of mine express the following about the United States. “I am going to enjoy the Republican Retirement Plan by driving my pick up truck far into the dessert and NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN, then I will enjoy the Republican Health Care Plan – NEVER GET SICK”!
>>
>>Tom
>
>
>You mean as opposed to the socialist plan of "We're all too stupid to plan for retirement, so take our money for a retirement Ponzi scheme that will rape our children when we try to collect"?
>
>Gary

Gary;

Here is a bit of reality involving me! I worked for Ampex Corporation as an electronics engineer for 15 years. I had over $30,000 of my money in my companies 401K. Our company was bought and sold three times in nine years. In 1990 16,000 people were laid off from Ampex in one day. We were told, “we could not touch our 401K for one year”. If I had been 50 or older as of the day we were fired I would have received $1600 a month retirement. With two kids in grammar school $1600 a month looked good as I had no job.

Three months after we were fired we received a letter, “Sorry, your 401K no longer exists. We invested in Executive Life Insurance Company and they went bankrupt”! A few months ago a company bought the remains of Executive Life and they gave a “pay out” to cancel our accounts. I received my check for $9.92 in exchange for my $30,000. I went to Ampex a few weeks ago to inquire about the value of my retirement. We no longer have medical/dental/vision. My $1600 has been reduced to $540 a month.

There were over 20,000 people that worked at Ampex worldwide. There are now 50. It is expected that by January 2003 the company will no longer exist. Ampex produced the worlds first commercial audio tape recorders and invented video recording (analog and digital), instant reply and video editing to name just a few things.

Plan for your retirement, as social security was not meant for that purpose. That has been the message since 1970. I wish everyone the best of luck. The $1170 a month I will receive from social security will pay half of my rent in Silicon Valley where I live.

Memories! George Bush senior was president when I lost my 401K and George Bush Junior is president while I get screwed some more. Have things improved to protect 401K’s? No. Will they improve? Be serious! I am told I may have no retirement from Ampex. Companies in Silicon Valley like to keep you for a while and then fire you so they do not have to pay retirement, etc. If you have a few million in the bank none of this matters to you. Otherwise you could be next.

Where to put your retirement investment!

1. Invest in the Stock Market – are you kidding?
2. Play Lotto – not a bad idea!
3. Flush your money down the toilet – at least you can see where it went!
4. Put your money in an IRA or 401K – and God knows where it will go.
5. Save your money in a bank or savings institution – remember the Savings and Loan scandal? Many people lost his/her life’s savings. Now who did President Reagan appoint as the President of the Committee to deregulate the Savings and Loan Industry? Why it was none other then Vice President George Bush! Amazing how many big money Republican contributors owned savings and loan institutions and hurt many investors but that is all right. Little people deserved to get screwed. Americans will be paying for that for decades!

Tom