This is as slime-ball low as slime-ball low goes. A story in the Huffington Post details a scheme by Governor Rick Perry of Texas to make money off the dead.
The scheme, according to the report, spoke about an arrangement the Perry administration proposed, where Wall Street investors would bet on how long retired teachers would live. Perry’s administration would act as the middle man, introducing the insurance provider USB to the unsuspecting retired teacher. Wall Street would then bet on that teacher’s longevity, and upon their passing, Perry would take the insurance money and reward the winning investor. The state of Texas would get a percentage for introducing USB insurance, The Wall Street investor and the deceased.
The family of the deceased, predictably, will not get anything from this arrangement
According to the notes, which were authenticated by a meeting participant, the Perry administration wanted to help Wall Street investors gamble on how long retired Texas teachers would live. Perry was promising the state big money in exchange for helping Swiss banking giant UBS set up a business of teacher death speculation.
All they had to do was convince retirees to let UBS buy life insurance policies on them. When the retirees died, those policies would pay out benefits to Wall Street speculators, and the state, supposedly, would get paid for arranging the bets. The families of the deceased former teachers would get nothing.
Calling Perry a slime ball is wrong. My apologies to the real slime-balls of the world. You wouldn’t sink this low.
