A recently released study by the California Public Policy Center (CPPC) entitled “Costa Mesa, California – City Employee Compensation Analysis,” using actual payroll data provided by the city, has calculated the average total annual compensation for an employee of that city to be $146,863 during 2011. Anyone wishing to review their calculations can download the...
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On September 9th the Contra Costa Times ran an editorial denouncing Prop. 32, a California citizen’s initiative that will appear on the state ballot in November, joining their sister publication the San Jose Mercury to call it a “scam” (ref. “Proposition 32 is deceptive and should be rejected“). The Contra Costa Times editorial staff provides...
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Yes, this is an incredible statistic. But only one assumption is necessary to generate this shocking result – just assume that pension funds will only earn 4.5% per year instead of 7.5% per year. If you wish to cling to the utterly absurd belief that over the long-term, decade after decade, pension funds can achieve...
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On August 31st the San Jose Mercury’s editorial board saw fit to denounce Prop. 32, a California citizen’s initiative that will appear on the state ballot in November, as a “scam,” because the initiative would ban payroll deductions for political contributions (ref. “Deceptive Prop. 32 would worsen campaign finance mess“). The editors reason that since...
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Does this seem incredible? Well it isn’t. It is based on actual payroll records obtained from the city of San Jose for 2011, with just one assumption added – that pension funds will no longer earn 7.5% per year, but instead earn a more realistic 4.5% per year. If you want to stick with 7.5%,...
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The role of unions in the United States has historically been to pool the collective power of workers to negotiate an end to exploitative work conditions and elevate rates of compensation. During the late 19th and early 20th century, unions fought courageously and successfully to raise the standard of living for workers and to push...
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Still unappreciated among defenders of public employee pension benefits is the extreme sensitivity of projected rates of return on investments to the amount government payroll departments have to fork over to the pension fund managers every year. Equally unappreciated is the possibility, if not certainty, that the rates of return currently being used by pension...
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Earlier this week the California Public Policy Center (CPPC) released a study entitled “Understanding the Financial Disclosure Requirements of Public Sector Unions.” The study found that the financial reporting requirements of state and local public sector unions are far less extensive than federal worker unions or private sector unions, and not remotely on par with...
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In the aftermath of the June 5th elections, a dramatic round that included the unsuccessful Governor Scott Walker recall in Wisconsin, and the landslide victories for pension reform in San Jose and San Diego, California, countless pundits have weighed in with their own versions of what it all means. Earlier this week, a heavier than...
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On June 9th Reuters ran a story entitled “California’s Brown set for fight over pension reform” that has some interesting quotes from his Democratic counterparts in the state legislature. According to the article, Warren Furutani, an assembly member representing Long Beach. who co-heads a joint committee that will craft pension legislation, had this to say:...
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The May 2012 issue of “California Educator,” published by the California Teachers Association – that’s “teachers union” in plain English – has a two page political ad on pages 20 and 21 that urges teachers to fight a state initiative that will be on California’s November ballot. The text of this ad, which can be...
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The California Labor Federation has a membership of more than 1,200 unions, representing over two million workers. And the first of seven key issues they list on their legislative agenda for 2012 is supporting high speed rail. As they put it, “Building high speed rail will grow our economy and create long-term jobs. An estimated...
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One major premise underlying the criticisms leveled at pension reformers is that defenders of the current system believe 7.5% is a realistic long-term rate of return for pension funds. This is problematic for several reasons: 1 – A return of 7.5% is too high for the economic era we’ve been living in since 2008, and...
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a new form will got here