by meep
Back in 2017, I asked a question: Public Pensions: Why Do 100% Required Contribution Payers Have Decreasing Fundedness?
Well, it’s 6 years later, and the situation is no better.
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UPDATE AND SPOILER: THE ANSWER IS YES. YES, HE DID.
Brandon Johnson was sworn in as Chicago mayor on May 15, and I already sent my condolences when he “won” the election.
It’s not much in the way of winning when you...
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This is the culmination of the “choices have consequences” series.
The prior posts:
I’m linking the prior posts as a starter because I’m arguing with others...
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I look back at why pension obligation bonds were pursued by public pension plans, whether they were a good idea, and specifically what makes them OF THE DEVIL (and what that means). Yes, I hope that got your attention.
To be sure, with increasing interest rates right now, POB deals will be few and far between, but I want to take a snapshot of why POBs are not ONE CLEVER TRICK for solving public pension plan problems. They’re more a way to make a bad situation worse.
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This is not a new issue.
When public pensions in the United States started, many were on a pay-as-they-go basis.
Then the Great Depression hit.
So people learned that pre-funding pensions might be a good idea.
But fully funding those pensions, even with very optimistic assumptions, has turned out to be...
by meep
Looking at an 2 April 2023 op-ed from the Wall Street Journal about public pension strain in “blue” cities and states. Note: “red” cities and states also have this problem, and they won’t fail within the time period when they’d supposedly get a bailout (next two years)
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Back in January, I kicked off my Public Finance Spotlight series, highlighting Liz Farmer.
For this second edition, I want to highlight one of my premier data sources for public pensions analysis: the Public Plans Database.
You can see me highlighting the Public Plans...
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For those who added on because I cover mortality trends, I also cover public pensions and other public finance issues. If you only want to read the mortality issues, you can read just the posts in Mortality with Meep.
Today’s post is on the supposedly “overfunded” pensions of Washington...
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FoxBusiness: Kentucky warns BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase over ‘energy boycotts’
The state of Kentucky is warning a number of financial institutions, including BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase, to stop boycotting energy companies or the state may divest its funds in the months ahead.
Kentucky’s legislature enacted a law in 2022 that...
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From Wirepoints: Reality check: New actuarial report says Illinois’ biggest pension, TRS, sunk $6 billion further into the hole in FY 2022 – Wirepoints Quickpoint
The first actuarial report is out for an Illinois pension for fiscal year 2022, which ended on June 30. It’s for the TRS,...
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