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~ Gesticht àls Gesticht ter Voorkoming v/d Maatschappelijke Randdebiliteit ~
~ HÉT "progressief" Orgaan Der "Hangmatsocialisten" ~ Gesticht àls Gesticht ter Voorkoming v/d Maatschappelijke & Politieke Randdebiliteit |
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05-02-2010 |
Gelukkig heeft de oude Marx dit niet meer moeten meemaken... |
Voor diegenen die de laatste film van Michael Moore nog niet hebben
gezien en verkozen Avatar te bekijken hebben we hier één van de
onderwerpen die worden behandeld. Misschien zet dit sommigen nog aan om
toch naar Michael Moore's "Capitalism a love story" te gaan kijken...een aanrader!
bekijk dit eerst :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cLrXYmUurE
ongeloofwaardig?
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/insurance/p64954.asp
The Basics |
Does your boss want you dead?
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'Dead peasants'
insurance pays your employer a secret, tax-free windfall when you die.
Insurers have sold millions of policies to companies such as Dow
Chemical.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Right now, your company could have a life insurance policy on you that
you know nothing about. When you die -- perhaps years after you leave
your employer -- the tax-free proceeds from this policy wouldnt go to
your family. The money would go to the company.
Whats
more, the company might use this policy to pay for retirement benefits
and other perks not for you or your fellow workers, but for your
companys top executives.
Sound outrageous? Such corporate-owned life insurance is also big business:
- Companies
pay a whopping $8 billion in premiums each year for such coverage,
according to the American Council of Life Insurers, a trade group.
- The policies make up more than 20% of the all the life insurance sold each year.
- Companies
expect to reap more than $9 billion in tax breaks from these policies
over the next five years. The policies are treated as whole life
policies. So, companies can borrow against the policies (though the IRS
won't let them write off the interest). And the death benefits are
tax-free.
Hundreds of companies -- including Dow Chemical,
Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and Winn-Dixie -- have
purchased this insurance on more than 6 million rank-and-file workers.
These
policies, nicknamed dead janitors or dead peasants insurance, soared in
popularity after many states cleared the way for them in the 1980s.
Congress recently tried to crack down on the practice, to the howls of
the insurance industry -- which earlier this year managed to derail
reforms.
The policies have generated lawsuits by survivors who got little or nothing when insured workers died. A couple of examples:
Jane St. John
had two children and was pregnant with a third when her husband, a
butcher at a Winn-Dixie store, was killed in an auto accident. When the
Killeen, Texas, woman called the company to ask about insurance, she
said she was told about a $17,500 policy to which she was entitled. St.
John said Winn-Dixie told her nothing about the $102,000 the company
collected from a corporate-owned policy on his life. She found out
about it this summer, eight years after his death, from a lawyer who
researched court records. The idea that the company would secretly
insure lives, and then not share the benefits with the families, "is
sick," she said. "That is creepy."
Mike Rice was a
48-year-old assistant manager when he died of a massive heart attack at
the Wal-Mart store in Tilton, N.H. His widow, Vicki, became the lead
plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the company after she
discovered Wal-Mart collected $300,000 from a life insurance policy it
owned on him. Vicki Rice believes job-related stress contributed to the
heart attack and says it is totally immoral for Wal-Mart to profit from
his death.
In a lot of circumstances, the families dont get
anything, said attorney Mike Myers of Houstons McClanahan &
Clearman, which represents survivors suing companies over
corporate-owned policies. The company tries its hardest to keep the
policy a secret.
Labor leaders and some lawmakers have denounced
the policies as unjust and repulsive. The companies say profits from
the policies can help offset the increased cost of employee benefits
and enhance the businesses bottom lines.
Corporate-owned life insurance actually comes in two flavors:
Executive or key person policies
that insure the lives of top executives. This coverage has been around
for decades and has a clear business purpose, since losing the
expertise, knowledge and contacts of top managers can be financially
devastating for companies.
Broad-based or janitors policies
that insure rank-and-file workers. Here the purpose is basically
profit. The life insurance proceeds are tax-free. The policies have an
investment component that allows companies to earn tax-deferred returns
while the employee is still alive. And, of course, companies can take
out tax-free loans on the policies. All these gains and income are used
to fund operations, pay for executive compensation or boost other
benefits.
No one knows how many corporate-owned policies are issued
on executives versus rank-and-file workers. Wal-Mart alone had taken
out about 350,000 such policies between 1993 and 1996. Nestle USA had
policies on 18,000 workers in 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Enron had $500 million in policies on workers.
Sales of the
policies came to a virtual standstill in September 2003, according to
the insurer trade group ACLI, when the Senate Finance Committee
approved legislation that would have taxed payouts made to companies if
the employee had left more than a year earlier. That indicates that
most policies arent being sold to protect companies financially against
the loss of key current employees.
Strong insurance industry
protests led the powerful committee to reconsider its action. Further
work on the issue has been postponed until 2004, and indications are
that the senators are softening on the idea of greatly restricting the
policies, said Jack Dolan, ACLI spokesman.
Companies insist that
janitors policies have a legitimate business function, but the IRS has
been cracking down, arguing that many of the arrangements are nothing
more than tax shelters. The agency has been particularly harsh on
once-popular leveraged policies, in which policy loans were used to pay
premiums. In the mid-1990s, the tax agency began disallowing billions
of dollars in interest payment deductions the companies had been taking
on such loans. Companies efforts to defend their programs have been
largely unsuccessful; a U.S. Tax Court judge called Winn-Dixies program
a sham, saying it lacked economic substance and business purpose.
The
controversy helped convince Walt Disney and Wal-Mart, among others, to
drop the policies. Winn-Dixie battled the IRS in court, but the
supermarket chain recently lost its final round when the Supreme Court
refused to review a lower court decision that backed the IRS.
So
far, one company has prevailed against the IRS -- Dow Chemical, which
took out the policies on more than 21,000 workers. A U.S. District
Court in the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the IRS to return
$22.2 million plus interest to the company. The IRS has appealed the
ruling.
Survivors lawsuits, meanwhile, typically focus on two issues:
- Whether the companies had an insurable interest in their employees lives.
- Whether the companies were required to get the employees permission for the policies.
Insurable
interest is usually a big deal for insurers. They want to make sure
whoever is buying life insurance doesnt have an incentive for bumping
off the insured. Insurers usually require purchasers have a strong
familial or emotional connection to the people being insured, or that
they would suffer significant financial losses if the insured people
died.
(Its that latter standard that was loosened in the 1980s,
making it easier for companies to buy policies for all their employees,
not just key executives.)
Most states also have advise and
consent laws that technically require companies to get workers
permission before buying life insurance on them. But attorney Myers
said many businesses circumvent these laws by purchasing the insurance
in one of the states that doesnt require notice or consent, including
Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
"Executives
fly to Atlanta to meet with the insurance company and its brokers, sign
some papers, get on their respective corporate jets and fly home, Myers
said.
Other companies offered their workers small policies --
typically $5,000 to $10,000 -- as an incentive to allow larger
corporate-owned policies to be issued on the workers lives. The small
policies can later be canceled, even if the company keeps up the
premiums on the other insurance.
Anger about these practices
likely will keep the heat on Congress to make some reforms. Its
possible that lawmakers will restrict severely companies ability to
write the policies on rank-and-file workers. At the very least,
companies probably will have to get workers consent before buying any
new policies and clearly disclose that the coverage may extend past the
time they leave the company, the ACLIs Dolan said.
But he rejected the idea that corporate-owned life insurance was immoral or a company bet against its workers.
Its an important business planning tool, Dolan said. Companies are using it for extremely valid reasons.
Liz
Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively
on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.
Ha, beste lezertjes jullie denken dat dit een marginaal verschijnsel is
van een paar geflipte CEO's en weirde managers met grijpgrage
vingertjes...
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http://deadpeasantinsurance.com/which-employers-bought-policies-on-the-lives-of-employees/#more-43
Which employers bought policies on the lives of employees?
Because
a companys purchase of insurance policies is not a public record, it
is virtually impossible to know every company that invested in policies
on employees lives. The following companies, however, are believed to
have been named as the beneficiary of life insurance policies on employees:
- ADAC Laboratories
- Advanced Telecommunication Corp.
- Aeroquip Vickers Inc.
- Alabama Power Co.
- Alfa Corp.
- Allegheny Technologies Inc.
- Allergan Inc.
- Allfirst Financial Inc.
- American Business Products, Inc.
- American Electric Power
- American Express Co.
- American Greetings Corp.
- American Management Systems Inc.
- American Seafoods Group LLC
- Ameritech Corp.
- Amerus Group Co.
- Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
- Appalachian Power Co.
- Arch Chemical
- Aristech Chemical Corp.
- AT&T Communications
- Atlantic Richfield Co.
- Avery Dennison Corp
- Avon Products Inc.
- B. F. Goodrich Company
- Ball Corporation
- Bank Boston
- Bank Of America
- Bank One Corp.
- Barnett Banks Inc.
- Bassett Furniture Industries Inc.
- Be Aerospace Inc.
- Bear Stearns Companies
- Bellsouth Corporation
- Boise Cascade Corp.
- Boston Company
- Boston Federal
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- Camelot Music, Inc.
- Carolina Power & Light Co.
- Carpenter Technology Corp.
- Catskill Financial Corp.
- Central Power & Light Co.
- Ch2m Hill Companies Ltd.
- Charming Shoppes, Inc.
- Checkfree Corp.
- Chemical Banking Corporation
- Citibank, N.A.
- Citizens Bank
- Clark Inc.
- Clorox Company
- CNF Inc.
- Coca-Cola Company
- Columbus Southern Power Co.
- Commercial Intertech Corp.
- Compass Bank (Florida & Alabama)
- Computer Technology Associates Inc.
- Consolidated Natural Gas Co.
- Consolidated Rail Corporation
- Cox Enterprises, Inc.
- CTA Inc.
- Cymer Inc.
- Diamond Shamrock Inc.
- Diebold Inc.
- Dime Bancorp Inc.
- Dow Chemical
- Earle M. Jorgensen Co.
- Eastman Kodak Company
- Eaton Corp.
- ECC Capital Corp.
- Enserch Corp.
- F&M Bancorp
- FiberMark Inc.
- Figgie International Inc.
- Fina Oil & Chemical Company
- First Bank System Inc.
- First Commonwealth
- First Midwest Bancorp Inc.
- Fleet Bank
- FleetBoston Financial Corp.
- Flightsafety International Inc.
- Frontier Bank
- Fulton Financial Corp.
- GATX Corporation
- Georgia Power Co.
- GNC Corp.
- Great Plains Energy Inc.
- GTE Corporation
- Gulf Power Co.
- HCR Manor Care Inc
- Hechinger Company
- Heritage Commerce Corp.
- Herman Miller Inc.
- Hershey Foods Corporation
- Hillenbrand Industries, Inc.
- Hosiery Corporation of America
- Houghton Mifflin
- Household Finance
- Hovnanian Enterprises Inc.
- Hughes Supply Inc
- ICI Americas, Inc.
- Idaho Power Company
- IKON Office Solutions Inc.
- Indiana Michigan Power Co.
- Integra Bank Corp.
- Intermark Inc.
- Iowa First Bancshares Corp.
- Iroquois Bancorp Inc.
- J Jill Group Inc.
- JP Morgan Chase & Co.
- Kansas City Power & Light
- Kansas Gas & Electric Co.
- Keithley Instruments Inc.
- Kentucky Power Co.
- Keycorp Ohio
- Kimberly Clark
- Korn Ferry International
- Laser Master Intl. Inc.
- Linens N Things Inc.
- LKQ Corp.
- Louisiana Pacific Corp.
- Manor Care Inc.
- Marriott International Inc.
- McDonnell Douglas Corp.
- Media General Inc.
- Medicalcontrol Inc.
- Menasha Corporation
- MidAmerican Energy Co.
- Miix Group Inc.
- Mississippi Power Co.
- MNC Financial Inc.
- Mueller Industries Inc.
- National City Corporation
- NationsBank
- Nestle Enterprises
- Norfolk Southern Corp.
- Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
- Northern States Power Co.
- Ohio Power Co.
- Old National
- Olin Corporation
- Owens & Minor Inc.
- PacifiCorp
- Panera Bread Co.
- Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company
- Parker Hannifin Corp.
- Penn Treaty American Corp.
- Penns Woods Bancorp Inc.
- Phibro Animal Health Corp.
- Philipp Brothers Chemicals Inc.
- Phoenix Companies Inc.
- Pinnacle Financial Services Inc.
- Portland General Electric
- Potlatch Corporation
- PPG Industries
- Procter & Gamble Company
- PSS World Medical Inc.
- Public Service Co. of New Mexico
- Public Service Co. of Oklahoma
- Public Service Enterprise Group
- Questech Inc.
- R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company
- Ruddick Corp.
- Ryder System Inc.
- Sallie Mae (Stud Ln Mktg Assoc.)
- Savannah Electric & Power Co.
- Sequa Corp.
- Service Merchandise Co., Inc.
- Shearson Mortgage
- Sherwin-Williams
- Sky Chefs
- Smart & Final Inc.
- Smith Barney
- Sonoco Products Co.
- Southwest Bank
- Southwest Water Co.
- Southwestern Bell Corp.
- Southwestern Electric Power Co.
- Southwestern Public Service Co.
- Star Banc Corp.
- Stauffer Management Company
- Steelcase Inc.
- Sturgis Bancorp Inc.
- Summit Bank of N.J.
- Swank, Inc.
- Tellabs Inc.
- Tenet Healthcare Corp.
- Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.
- Tompkins Trustco Inc.
- TXU Corp.
- TYCO International
- UniFirst Corp.
- Union Bank
- United National Bancorp
- Urocor Inc.
- Vineyard National Bancorp
- W. R. Grace & Company
- Wachovia Corporation
- Walgreen Company
- Wal-Mart Stores
- Walt Disney
- Wangs International, Inc.
- Wells Fargo, N.A.
- West Coast Bancorp
- West Texas Utilities Co.
- Westar Energy Inc.
- Western Aire Chef Inc
- Western Resources, Inc.
- Westpoint Pepperell
- Winn Dixie
- Winnebago Industries Inc.
- Woolworth Corporation
- Xcel Energy Inc.
- York Water Co.
- Zale Corp.
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