As retirees see their pension payments slashed in half, Health Ranger launches new Food Rising grow box to save retirees up to $1,000 a year on food and groceries

Thursday, March 17, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: pensions, retirement costs, food self reliance

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(NaturalNews) Americans keep being told how good the economy is, and how well-positioned the nation is for the future – financially speaking – but reality keeps disproving those claims.

And in fact, nowhere is this reality manifesting itself as profoundly as in pension funds – that is, funds that are supposed to contain enough money to pay retirement benefits to workers who contributed to the funds.

As reported by Zero Hedge, a microcosm of this coming wave of pension fund failures is a man by the name of Dale Dorsey, a Teamsters union member.

In recent days, Dorsey attended a town hall-style meeting in Kansas City, Mo., where retirees turned out to discuss a "massive" cut to pensions that has been proposed by the Central States Pension Fund, which covers some 400,000 participants, and is more than likely going to go belly-up within a decade.

Dorsey, after working for 33 years, is facing a whopping 55 percent cut to his pension benefits, which he says will "cripple" his family and endanger the livelihood of two children, one a fourth grader and the other just entering high school.

How could this happen?

"A controversial 2014 law allowed the pension to propose [deep] cuts, many of them by half or more, as a way to perhaps save the fund," The Kansas City Star reported recently, adding that "two much smaller pensions also have sought similar relief under the law, and still more pensions are significantly underfunded."

"What's happening to us is a microcosm of what's going to happen to the rest of the pensions in the United States," said Jay Perry, a longtime Teamsters member.

Where did the money go?

That's very probably true.

In fact, pension funds – especially big public sector pension funds in grossly underfunded cities like Houston and Chicago – are on the brink. The state of Illinois is so broke and broken (the GOP governor and the Democrat-run legislature can't get together on anything), that it was forced to miss a $560 million payment to its retirement fund in November.

As Zero Hedge reported further:

"Kenneth Feinberg - the man who oversaw the distribution of cash compensation to victims who were involved in accidents tied to faulty ignition switches [with GM vehicles] - is now tasked with deciding whether the Central States Pension Fund's proposal to cut benefits passes legal muster. 'Central States' proposal would allow the retirees to work and still collect their reduced benefits. But some are no longer able to work, and the idea didn't seem plausible to others, the Star goes on to note."

"You know anybody hiring a 73-year-old mechanic?" Rod Heelan asked Feinberg. "I'm available."

"I'll have to go find a job. I don't know. I'm 68," Gary Meyer of Concordia, Mo said. "It would probably be a minimum-wage job."

Fortunately, not all is bleak for these and millions of other Americans who are facing financial difficulty, thanks to Food Rising Mini-Farm Grow Box 2.0, developed by NaturalNews editor, food research scientist, head of CWC Labs and author of Food Forensics, Mike Adams.

Softening the economic blow

For just pennies on the dollar, the system features a number of upgrades over the first versions released last year. While the grow boxes are still 100 percent non-electric and EMP-proof, using no pumps at all, gravity powered auto-watering is now accomplished through a vertical float valve mounted in the lid of the bin rather than the side wall.

There are other improvements as well, but the main thrust of the grow boxes remains the same: You can grow delicious, fresh, nutritious fruits, herbs and vegetables, for a fraction of what you would pay for them in stores, saving several hundred dollars per year.

Even better – the grow boxes are now priced to sell, at a 20 percent discount over the regular price.

While there may be little we can do to reverse the decline of public sector pensions, Adams says he hopes to at least mitigate the financial pain somewhat by offering an affordable food solution that will help soften the economic blow for millions.

Sources:

ZeroHedge.com

KansasCity.com

Science.NaturalNews.com