“CalSTRS has a $70-plus-billion unfunded liability – even with assumed investment earnings that Brown deems ‘highly unlikely’ – and says it needs about $5 billion more a year to regain solvency.” – Dan Walters column, “Brown budget reflects state’s massive debt,” May 25, 2014, Sacramento Bee Those “investment earnings” that Walters quotes Brown as finding...
Editor’s note: Several times this year we have published in-depth investigative reports written by John Moore, a citizen activist living in Pacific Grove. This recent letter from Moore was addressed to the local newspapers serving Pacific Grove. Moore is unhappy with the coverage these newspapers have given the city of Pacific Grove’s pension crisis. The...
Editor’s Note: Using New York City as an example, even the most hardened conservative will acknowledge there is a world of difference between a assertive centrist businessman such as former Mayor Bloomberg and current mayor de Blasio. The following investigative report by Alec Torres provides an in-depth look at how the hard left has now...
CalPERS, the large California public pension plan, has filed an amicus brief in the case of Detroit’s bankruptcy. Calpers does not like the Detroit pension plans being treated like unsecured creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding, and cites the constitutional (state constitutional, that is) protections for pensions. Thing is, there’s law, and there’s reality. But let’s...
The title of this post expresses what is probably the greatest example of a monstrous hypocrisy – that public employee unions, and the pension funds they control, are supposedly helping the American economy, and protecting the American people from “the bankers.” Overpriced “bubble” assets caused by banks offering low interest rates hurt ordinary working people...
Public pension systems in California, most notably CalPERS and CalSTRS, are quick to cite their average pension amount as evidence that their pension benefits are reasonable. In addition to the pension plans themselves, many defenders of public pension plans will cite these averages themselves when attempting to counter claims that pension benefits have become excessive...
The town of Corte Madera, CA, makes up for what it lacks in size and population, roughly 4 square miles with 9,425 residents, in its exorbitant government compensation packages. City government has approximately 43 full time employees with the average compensation package coming in at over $170,000. That means every man, woman and child in...
Editor’s Note: Pacific Grove may be one of the smallest cities in California, but it is on the front lines of the battle for pension reform. Facing financially devastating annual billings from CalPERS, citizen activists are uncovering evidence that the pension benefit enhancements passed by Pacific Grove’s city council may not have complied with the...
“Once people get the facts, they do not support slashing people’s pensions.” – Dave Low, chairman, Californians for Retirement Security (Washington Post, February 25, 2014) Really? Making sure “people get the facts” is difficult when most “facts” the public sees are promulgated to the media by pension fund PR departments eager to preserve the torrent...
Few politicians or government officials publicly oppose transparency in government. After all, transparency isn’t just about information; it’s a tangible acknowledgment that government officials work for citizens, not the other way around. Still, there’s a big difference between mouthing support for transparency and actually fulfilling public records requests as required by California’s Public Records Act. TransparentCalifornia.com,...
Overlooked in the Pacific Grove government employee pension reform discussions is that employees and retirees are real people. In Rhode Island, many retirees who had been promised a modest $25,000-per-year retirement had that sum reduced to $10,000 per year. Their plight is tragic. The discussions in Pacific Grove lump employees and retirees together. The clerk...
The Los Angeles 2020 Commission studied among other things the sorry state of LA’s pension mess. In a case of can-kicking extraordinaire, its recommendation was to appoint another commission to further study the problem. Please consider Report Finds Los Angeles at Risk of Decline A scathing verdict on Los Angeles’s civic health that was delivered in a one-two...
“The AFT will be looking more closely at those who are supporting the dismantling of defined benefit plans at the state and municipal level.” – Ranking Asset Managers, A Retirement Security Report on Money Managers for Pension Fund Trustees, March 5, 2014 As reported in a Washington Examiner editorial on April 4th, the American Federation...
A proposal supported by some members of the Los Angeles City Council begs the question: Just what do we pay taxes for? Los Angeles City Officials want to increase sales taxes for which, in return, they will repair the streets. Councilmembers Mitch Englander and Joe Buscaino are promoting the plan, while Councilman Herb Wesson was...