It would seem that I struck a very touchy nerve — like where a piece of frigid ice stabs into the exposed root of a split molar.
I'm referring to my implication last week that Bain & Company's ESOP had some very poorly reported transactions made between itself and the Bain 401(k) a decade ago.
I was variously accused, publicly and privately, of promoting a particular agenda or of cynically trying to drum up views on my blog. This is of course an open forum where I and our readers are free to espouse whatever views we wish; if I wanted to, I could spend an entire blog advocating that we abolish stop signs, define an ERISA fiduciary as anyone who sneezes on a 5500, or that all ponies should be sent to the moon.
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But that's not why I'm here.
I'm here to talk about the 5500 data that we provide as a public service to the benefits community on FreeERISA. I try to be topical – heck, I did a report on Weber Grill's retirement plan in honor of Memorial Day. It just so happens that the Presidency happens to be extra topical this year. I would happily go into the 5500s of Obama's former initiatives, but there are none. If you want to know what he was up to, check the form 990s that the Developing Communities Project filed with the IRS.
I was also accused of being opaque by not providing the 5500s in question for all to see. Well, the only insidious agenda I had with that was that I didn't think so many people would care to look so much. But I was wrong, so here they are:
Feel free to take a look and help me with this puzzle. Like I said last week, I am genuinely curious about these numbers.
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