The Morning Report
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Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 | It was on KPBS radio Wednesday: government pensioners in Shanghai, China, are being evicted from their lifetime apartments and compensated at a fraction of their worth to make room for new upscale commercial developments that will be funded with their pilfered pension funds. Sound familiar? It should because the new eminent domain bill here in America allows our government to confiscate private property for a fraction of its future worth when it becomes a commercial development, with little regard for the humane or moral aspects.
Appreciating the impact of this on a more personal level, a San Diego employee mused that at least she owns a piece of Petco Park, built with her pilfered pension money. She intends to live there when it becomes necessary, if forced to survive on half the retirement pension she was promised by the city of San Diego.
Capitalist or Communist seems to make little difference these days. Basic human rights are being violated; the sheeple have become a manipulated and fleeced commodity. It gives new dimension to an actual English word; to Shanghai: “to put by trickery into an undesirable position.”
Aguirre’s attempted roll back of lifetime pensions is legal trickery being foisted upon all San Diego’s employees. Unheard of in times past when people honored handshake commitments, this brazen breach of faith dawns a corrosive era in America even for the written contract.