by meep
The Detroit bankruptcy was filed in federal court in July 2013, and I look at the history since then. There is a lawsuit going on right now in 2023, involving the Detroit police and fire pension fund, which relates to its deal from the bankruptcy workout. In addition, the school system wasn’t involved in the bankruptcy. I look at STUMP’s coverage of Detroit’s woes over the past decade.
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Let’s see the latest news about Chicago pensions:
Yvette Shields of Bond Buyer: Investment losses sting Chicago pensions, 2022 balance sheet
Investment losses last year eroded funding ratio gains achieved a year earlier by Chicago’s pension system, casting a shadow over a healthy pickup of taxes on the city’s audited financial...
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Pensions & Investments: North Carolina passes Republican bill blocking ESG investments
The North Carolina Legislature passed a bill to block state entities from considering environmental, social and governance factors when making investment and employment decisions, sending the Republican-led bill to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The state Senate passed the bill...
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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)
by meep
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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