Reply #353: I wholeheartedly welcome honest skepticism...

[IdesOfOctober]

... and I realize that in today's day and age, it's hard to invest too much trust.

Forgive the reference, but it's apt: doveryai, no proveryai.

"Trust, but verify."

In today's modern Information Age, you have at your fingertips - literally - the means necessary to do some fact-checking.

1. Start by checking your own pension plan(s) - present and any past employers. If the Form 5500 shows State Street as trustee and/or service provider, at least you have a personal reason to invest a little more time in the next step.

2. Look at what the Polaroid employees, retirees, and their dependents have been put through:

a. http://www.erisafraud.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1085 (note the case documents)

b. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=polaroid+%22state+street%22+directors (interlocking boards of Polaroid and State Street, at the same time that STT let the pension plan shares fall to a dime; the same could happen to your plan)

3. Pick up any other sub-thread, and do a little due diligence. Don't just express your skepticism; apply it. Test the assertions, using resources you trust. If you like the NYT, see what they've written about State Street. If you have access to LEXIS/NEXIS, use that.

The bottom line is that I don't mind skepticism. The facts bear out the assertions.

Finally, as to why this is getting out now: you'll have to invest a smidge of trust when I say that months of careful planning have gone into ensuring that the truth about Halliburton, State Street, and other affiliates of the BushCo. Cabal (e.g., BakerBotts, Vinson & Elkins, Ropes & Gray) gets out.