Posted on 12/01/2016 8:11:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The mayor of Dallas uses the word “bankruptcy,” and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal swoop in to report on the city’s imminent doom.
The mayor of Houston holds a press conference to declare the pension problem solved, and folks just go along with it.
The truth is that the two cities are in equally dreadful trouble, headed for bankruptcy, as are Fort Worth and El Paso, thanks to delusional forecasting, ludicrous system design, and meddlesome union-funded lawmakers from across the state who’ve stripped big-city voters of their right to govern their own finances.
How mismanaged are these city’s pensions?
Take Portland, Oregon, for comparison. Portland has put no money aside for its retired police and firefighters. Zero, ever.
Yet all four Texas cities have bigger pension debt compared to tax revenue than Portland.
Much of Dallas’ recent bad press mentions that the city is now second to Chicago in pension debt-to-tax revenue ratio (Houston was fourth), but this isn’t really new. Crain’s Chicago Business reported that fact a year ago, and Watchdog.org reported on a similar study that put Dallas third in the nation, El Paso fourth, and Houston fifth.
Of the 25 biggest cities in the country, Fort Worth and El Paso tell themselves the biggest official lies about how much money they should be setting aside for pensions, according to a 2016 study by Joshua Rauh, a professor of finance at Stanford University. Then come Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas on the list of the delusional.
The Times story gets into just how unrealistic Dallas’ plan was: 9 percent investment returns forever and a yearly bill set by state law that didn’t begin to cover expenses.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
This all needs to be fixed. It seems to me our democracy is actually not working any more due to corruption and mismanagement.
They won’t be able to afford the loss of federal money if they protect illegal aliens.
Dallas proper and El Paso are liberal warts on the ass of Texas, both almost as bad as Austin. So I am not surprised at all. El Paso also has the burden of a population that is probably 30% illegal.
Surprised about Ft. Worth. I assume they got crushed by the gas bust.
I hope Trump creates a road map and guidelines for all levels of local, state and federal agencies to follow.....so that there can be some type of orderly template as everyone deals with the effects of unfunded retirement pensions
I am in very red Dallas County and rather enjoying watching Dallas choke on its liberal policies.
I am peripherally affected but not that much.
“This all needs to be fixed. It seems to me our democracy is actually not working any more due to corruption and mismanagement.”
Yes, and it has to start with the realization that all PE pensions have to be immediately cut precipitously. Because it doesn’t really matter what some judge mandates insofar as requiring that PE pensions be made whole, because there isn’t enough money any way you look at it to fix the problem as it stands today. If cities choose to tax their productive citizens to get the needed money, they will simply move out, leaving the cities in worse shape than before the attempt to salvage the pensions started.
It’s not just Illegals ,Mexicans drive across the border for free health care ,welfare etc then drive back home to Mexico on the same day . BBC did a story about Mexicans worry about Trump being elected and taking away their free stuff
AND cities that are funding ANY illegal glore who steps foot on our land!! No illegal is turned down from receiving any form of government assistance compliments of the state taxpayers!! Our public school districts are overruns with illegals WHO CAN NOT BE TURN AWAY!! The law forbids it!! They get free lunch and breakfast etc...yep my state is facing dire future with the influx of millions of illegals who soon will turn this state blue in the very NEAR FUTURE...just look at the amount of votes Hitlery got here..scary! Texas someday will NOT be a dependable red state anymore!
It doesn’t take long. It happened fast in California.
I recall having recently seen a story about our regional transit system,the "MBTA".It runs Boston's subway system as well as commuter rail in Eastern Massachusetts.The story said that their pension system is underfunded to the tune of several *billion* dollars.I've read that for years the policy is you can retire after something like 20 years and get 75% of your working salary.
I'm sure that's typical in most major cities.
Here in NY, if you work for the city or county government, the tenure for pension eligibility is 25 years.
So, say you start working for the city at age 25, you can retire with full pension at age 50.
Red?
Didn’t Mrs. Bill win Dallas County too, not just the popular ghettoes?
In all fairness,from talking to them,they don't like to be here but death is the alternative.
Zackly!
It’s not just NY. This problem is coast to coast.
It is what I keep telling people-Liberalism isn’t a Northern or Western problem, it is a problem EVERYWHERE.
If you live in an area that is considered RED and there is even a hint of liberalism, it is like having a cancerous tumor, and a dotted line on a map won’t keep it from insinuating itself.
I live in Massachusetts, and it is a lost cause up here, but just because someone lives in Florida or Texas doesn’t mean it can’t begin turning blue. Look at Virginia. Whoever thought that state would go the way it has?
We all need to fight it.
If you take into consideration that Dallas and the other two cities are bastions of the Democratic Party. That said, there is no difference with any other Blue city in the U.S.
“Dallas proper and El Paso are liberal warts on the ass of Texas, both almost as bad as Austin. So I am not surprised at all”
Well then, why isn’t Austin on the verge of bankruptcy?
"...The choice of colors reverses a long-standing convention of political colors whereby red symbols (such as the Red Flag or Red Star) are associated with left-wing politics, and right-wing movements often choose blue as a contrasting color.[3] Indeed, until the 1980s, Republicans were often represented by blue and Democrats by red. The current terminology of "red states" and "blue states" came into use in the United States presidential election of 2000 on an episode of the Today show on October 30, 2000. According to The Washington Post, the terms were coined by journalist Tim Russert, during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election.[4] That was not the first election during which the news media used colored maps to depict voter preferences in the various states, but it was the first time a standard color scheme took hold; the colors were often reversed or different colors used before the 2000 election..."
Like so many symbols, the Left fully engages in muddying them, obfuscating them, changing them where is suits them. Look at the word "liberal". Its political meaning used to be the exact opposite of what it is today.
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