There are no profits. There is only return on investment, which goes either to the beneficiaries or to further fund the system for future retirees. You can’t take these out of the system and have the system function. You’re just eating your capital and that makes it disappear before you need it.
It can’t possibly be true and no one thinks it could be. Why? Because there are no profits.
If you had said this in the beginning, we could have settled this right away. It is impossible and crazy. Also fraudulent and loony.
I listened to about five minutes of the video, jumping around a bit. He said that the state of New Jersey in 1998 (with all its political subdivisions) has liquid assets of $1.2 trillion (stated just around the 16 minute mark), with the state having $290 billion of that. On page 14 of New Jersey’s latest report, the state auditor says that New Jersey has total assets of $36 billion, including pension and retirement funds.
Now, the stock market has taken a hit in the last few months, but it does not make sense that Governor Corzine has turned $290 billion in pension funds into $36 billion.
There is only one explanation: the guy in the video has no grasp on reality. The idea that the various governments of New Jersey collectively own $1.2 trillion in stock is cuckoo.