The Fitch ratings agency announced on Wednesday that it has downgraded New Jersey’s bond rating to AA- from AA. A press release from the ratings agency placed the blame for the downgrade squarely on the state’s massive unfunded pension liabilities – estimated at about $55 billion. The release notes recent efforts by the governor and legislature to reduce those liabilities, but maintains, “meeting the requisite increases in pension contributions will be challenging and is likely to conflict with other long term challenges, such as property tax relief, school funding, and …
California’s Santa Clara County used $16 million in federal housing funds not for affordable housing programs or similar services, but to increase guaranteed pension benefits for county workers. Employees of the county’s Housing Authority can now retire as early as age 50, receive as much as $40,000 annually during retirement, and enjoy 2 percent annual increases in pension benefits. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development says the move does not violate the conditions of the federal program, according to an article in Mercury News. Santa Clara County’s housing …
He left home at 11 after a rough childhood, spending time on the streets, yet managed to finish both high school and college. He later went on to work as a Pepsi-Cola truck driver, at a meat-packing plant and as a short-order cook. This is the story of Gov. Paul LePage, who, in a little more than six months, has ushered in sweeping reforms for Maine — a record of accomplishments it might take other governors years to achieve. What’s even more remarkable is that LePage is a tea party-backed …
Government bureaucrats are living the good life. Salaries and benefits are 30 percent to 40 percent higher for federal workers than their private-sector counterparts. They enjoy great benefits, such as early retirement with generous pensions. And now, the rest of America is starting to take notice. This week on Scribecast, we spoke to Iain Murray, vice president for strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He’s the author of a new book called “Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You” (Regnery, 256 pages). It documents …
The fact is that New Jersey lied and got caught, but taxpayers everywhere may benefit. Yesterday, the State of New Jersey settled with the SEC on charges that the state committed securities fraud by failing to disclose the true state of its state employees pension funds. This admission is an important step toward ending accounting policies that allow states to claim that the state teachers and employees’ pension funds are fully funded, when they really have billions of dollars of deficits. By using accounting tricks, New Jersey claimed to have …
When it comes to retirement and pension benefits, federal, state, and local government officials have all been humming the same mantra: never pay for something today if you can put off paying for it until tomorrow. Unfortunately, tomorrow is here. The federal government is on the hook for $41 trillion in unfunded obligations for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and state and local governments owe an additional $1.5 trillion to their state employees for health and pension benefits. The national reality of these promises started hitting home this year when …
