Bankruptcy Won’t Help Cities Unless Courts Permit Reduced Pension Benefits
Municipal bonds have long been among the safest investments, but a coming wave of municipal bankruptcies in California – and the disturbing way one of those cities is stiffing its bondholders – could...
View ArticleAverage Total Compensation for Anaheim City Worker is ALSO $175,000 Per Year
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...
View ArticleCosta Mesa City Employees Average $146,863 Annual Compensation
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...
View ArticleFixing California’s Retiree Health Care Problem
Editor’s Note: Apart from pensions, the most financially significant “OPEB,” or “other post employment benefit,” typically awarded a government employee is retirement health care. This benefit is...
View ArticleLos Angeles DWP Union Boss Opposes Riordan’s Pension Reform Plan
Campaign Funding IBEW Union Boss Brian d’Arcy, the imperious business manager of the Department of Water and Power’s politically powerful and domineering union, is not a happy camper with Mayor...
View ArticlePension Reform Spotlight on Los Angeles
Earlier this week the Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled “Signature gatherers duel over Riordan pension initiative.” In the article’s introduction, the Times reporter quoted a voter opposed to...
View Article“Work in Progress” Government Employee Pay Tracker Still Grossly Inaccurate
Since reporting on the State Controller’s government employee pay tracker last month (ref. California State Controller’s Employee Pay Tracker Grossly Understates Actual Compensation), the State...
View ArticleSaving Defined Benefits Requires Lower Pensions for Existing Workers and...
Among pension reformers there is a spirited ongoing debate regarding what might constitute a financially sustainable yet equitable solution. On one side there is a call to do away with defined benefits...
View ArticleThe Pension Debate is About Much More Than Pensions
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do...
View ArticleThe Financial Arsonists of Contra Costa County
When a house is burning down, firefighters rush to save the occupants and put out the fire, often incurring personal risk in the process. Sometimes firefighters even die in the act of saving us. It’s a...
View ArticleMunicipal Credit Ratings May Crumble Under New Rules
Everyone remembers how thousands of bankers and millions of homeowners were caught by surprise when the real estate bubble collapsed in late 2008. One of the major reasons this prodigious bubble was...
View ArticleThe Persistent Pension Fund Doublethink Behind the 7.0% Per Year Projection
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” ― George Orwell, 1984 The two largest public employee pension funds in...
View ArticleSocial Security Trends and Data
Editor’s Note: If you want links to core data on Social Security finance, this post by UnionWatch contributor Mike Shedlock is a good place to start. Shedlock correctly notes that during the most...
View ArticleA Business-Friendly Way to Make Social Security Actuarialy Sound
In Social Security Trends and Data there are numerous charts showing the unsustainable nature of the system as it is currently structured. But ensuring the solvency of Social Security is not that...
View ArticlePublic Borrowing for Union Benefits: Brown Still Not Scaling Wall of Debt
Gov. Jerry Brown continues to pose as an iconoclast who is willing to make the tough choices necessary to keep California afloat, but his new budget is more evidence that he remains the cat’s-paw for...
View ArticleA pension solution — use Social Security formula
In the classic “sword vs. gun” scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones encounters a massive assassin ominously wielding a three-foot sword. We all remember Indy taking pause, shrugging,...
View ArticleGASB Loopholes Created Illusions of Solvency
What if most of the public employee compensation enhancements of the past decade or more in California were based on inaccurately optimistic government financial statements? Or to be blunt, what if...
View ArticleJudge Rules Stockton CA Bankruptcy is Valid, City Acted in Good Faith
Today a judge ruled that the city of Stockton California is indeed bankrupt and that the city acted in good faith. Creditors asked the judge to void the bankruptcy, saying the city could raise taxes...
View ArticleCalifornia’s Public Employment Relations Board Thwarts Pension Reform
When it comes to state government, most people think of the governor and the members of the Legislature, those who are elected by the voters and do their business under the Capitol dome. However, there...
View ArticleCalPERS Pension System in the Crosshairs of Stockton Bankruptcy Dispute
A few days ago a federal judge sided with the city of Stockton, validating its bankruptcy. See Judge Rules Stockton CA Bankruptcy is Valid, City Acted in Good Faith. Bondholders screamed, but the...
View Article
