Dispelling the Public-Sector Salary Myth
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE unions often defend their members’ pricey pensions by claiming the benefits make up for salaries that are lower than those in the private sector. A study released Thursday undermines that rationale. In California, wages of state and local … Continue reading
Pension study: Teachers’ benefits are modest
SACRAMENTO — An economic research firm hired to produce data that could justify an expected initiative campaign to scale back public-employee pensions uncovered what its authors called a surprising finding in its report issued this week: Teachers receive relatively modest … Continue reading
California Led Nation in Pension Fund Losses
All state public pension funds lost money in 2009 as their stock and property investments tanked, a new Census Bureau report says, but California’s systems accounted for a huge share of the losses. The state has three major pension systems … Continue reading
Will California’s Public Pension Funds Unite to Invest in Job Creation?
Using their massive investment funds to create jobs might be a way for embattled public pension systems to aid the struggling California economy, while also generating some sorely needed good publicity. Gov. Brown may propose a job-creating pension investment program, … Continue reading
California Publishers Review Public Pension Problems at Conference; It’s Not Petty Politics
News reports are focused at the moment on California’s $15 billion budget defict. But that appears to be a drop in the bucket compared to the unfunded pension liabilities of California’s state and local governments. Estimates of the problem start … Continue reading
A Pension Restructuring Proposal for California
According to the CalPERS website, in their California Investments section, “as of January 31, 2011, approximately 10.3 percent of CalPERS total assets are invested in California.” This means that out of the $233.5 billion in assets under management by CalPERS … Continue reading
For CalPERS and CalSTRS, Reform Does Not Begin at Home
The nation’s two largest public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, are stepping up their drive to reform corporate boards of directors at a time when others are proposing reforms of pension boards. A new listing of potential directors announced by … Continue reading
432 School Employees Being Paid Over $90,000 in Fullerton, California?
In a city with a population of about 126,000 where the median household income is roughly $75K and the per capita income is about $23K it is almost unfathomable that 432 school district employees in Fullerton are being paid upwards … Continue reading
CalSTRS’ Shortfall Swells to $56 Billion
Unbelievable as it may seem, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the sixth largest public pension fund in the country, now has a pension shortfall of $56 billion, up $15.5 billion from last fiscal year. That’s an increase of … Continue reading
Assess the Need for Pension Reform in California
Acknowledging a problem is the first step in solving that problem. So goes the old saw that is often applied to many cases of destructive behavior. In this case, it ought to be applied to California’s problem of unfunded pension … Continue reading
