The buses shuttle in the grey tourism to see the historic Abbey, or to eat sticky toffee pudding, which keeps the coffers brimming with second-hand pension money.
On the other hand, its pension is overfunded to the tune of around $11 billion.
On the one hand, lower pension provision benefits neither employers, taxpayers nor the economy.
It could get even more money by a new rule that will allow existing savers to opt back into the state pension system if they hand over their pension savings to the state.
Companies simply handed their pension money to a life-insurance company that held some of their shares, or to the trust bank in their keiretsu.
But at the time of the scandal, Mr. Cuomo used particularly pointed language: "Steve Rattner was willing to do whatever it took to get his hands on pension fund money including paying kickbacks, orchestrating a movie deal, and funneling campaign contributions".
An ICO spokesman said it appeared that some firms were getting their hands on pension details because some people do not read the terms and conditions of contracts they sign, leaving them open to having their personal data accessed.
But surveys suggest that few will switch when the law takes effect next January.The draft 2007 budget unveiled by Mr Prodi's finance minister, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, includes a provision to transfer half the cash not handed to pension funds to the government.
While outgoing ICI President Matthew Fink says the industry supports nearly 90% of the proposals and, indeed, the ICI has led some of the efforts there are still several sticking points that the industry thinks will tip the balance too far into the hands of pension funds, hedge funds and other asset classes further away from certain legislated protections.
A recent study of 49 countries between 1960 and 1989 found that higher state pensions went hand in hand with lower fertility, fewer marriages and more divorces, and a lower savings rate*.The welfare state is also accused of behaving like a monopoly, depriving consumers of choice.
