Tag "CalPERS"
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State finances: LAO’s own report on CalSTRS demolishes LAO’s happy talk
I’m still struggling to make sense of Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor’s bizarrely upbeat report last month on state finances that predicted budget surpluses for years to come — but barely mentioned the state’s huge unfunded liabilities for retiree pensions and
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LAO’s cheerfully nutty budget report: Pension crisis? What pension crisis?
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has among the best reputations of any state agency. But after the release of Wednesday’s bizarre LAO budget analysis and accompanying press conference by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, I don’t know why. I groused about it
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Life imitates sci-fi: Why CA pension crisis is sure to get far worse
The debate in California over public employee pensions has grown familiar in recent times. Those who demand reform finally appear to have momentum. In Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown won passage of a pension reform measure in September 2012. While many
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Federal judge rebuffs CalPERS, OK’s San Bernardino bankruptcy
In a victory for taxpayers, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that the City of San Bernardino is eligible to file for bankruptcy. That trumped the claims of the California Public Employees Pension System that the court had the paramount right
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Inflation could quickly erode CalPERS pensions
CalPERS retirees could be in for a surprise. The California Public Employment Retirement System payments include a 2 percent inflation increase every year, called a Cost of Living Adjustment. In recent years, the federal government’s Consumer Price Index, which tracks inflation, has
Read MoreFresh evidence that Jerry Brown’s pension fix fixed little
July 10, 2013 By Chris Reed The aura of self-congratulation surrounding the governor’s office is particularly intense when it comes to the pension reform measure that Jerry Brown got through the Legislature in September. But I’m not like some other
Read MoreNo, the recession is not to blame for the pension crisis
July 5, 2013 By Chris Reed Perhaps the single smartest guy in the Schwarzenegger administration, David Crane, continues to be a wrecking ball when it comes to the arguments offered by apologists for California’s ruinous state finances. In his latest
Read MoreCA public sector: Laws? We don’t need no stinking laws
May 12, 2013 By Chris Reed In the private sector, there are all kinds of laws that govern employment, conduct, conflict of interest and appropriate use of shareholder funds. They may not always be enforced, but in the best-run companies,
Read MoreSeniors decry CalPERS long-term care rate hikes
May 10, 2013 By Dave Roberts If you’re curious what health care insurance might be like when the government takes it over, a preview was provided on Tuesday at an informational hearing of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term
Read MoreLAT’s Steve Lopez: Pension crisis real — not unions’ fault. Huh?
April 24, 2013 By Chris Reed The unsustainability of the public employee pension system in California has been obvious for at least six or seven years to anyone who understood two simple facts: the demographics of our aging government workforce
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