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The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has a big problem on its hands. A few weeks ago, it was discovered that TRS—the state agency responsible for overseeing teacher pensions—had signed a multi-year lease for luxurious office space in downtown Austin costing more than $326,000 per month. That handsome sum secured 100,000 sq. ft. spanning three floors at the not-yet-open Indeed Tower, a stunning high-rise featuring “extensive office amenities, including a fitness center, dedicated conference center and outdoor terraces.” Not surprisingly, news of the luxury lease didn’t sit well. Even the Texas Retired Teachers Association, a special interest not known for...

A new federal study says many workers in employer-funded pension plans that fail could see their benefits reduced under the current system of government support. The study was released Wednesday by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., the federal agency that insures pensions for about 41 million Americans. It found that about half of employers in so-called multi-employer pension plans that fail in the near future will receive reduced payouts. …

AS politicians at all levels of government look to cut spending, taxpayers need to make sure that public employees don't get a free pass -- particularly when it comes to pensions. Most of the nation's 107 million private-sector workers are forced to accept 401(k) plans and other defined-contribution pensions -- in which the employer makes a fixed contribution to the employee's retirement account, rather than guaranteeing a fixed payout. By contrast, nearly all of the more than 22 million federal, state and local public employees enjoy defined-benefit pensions -- with payouts fixed at some percentage of the individual's pay for...

You are now starting to hear Democrats talk about eliminating the tax deductability of 401(k)s.James Pethokoukis: House Democrats recently invited Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School of Social Research, to testify before a subcommittee on her idea to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of the popular retirement plans. In place of 401(k) plans, she would have workers transfer their dough into government-created "guaranteed retirement accounts" for every worker. The government would deposit $600 (inflation indexed) every year into the GRAs. Each worker would also have to save 5 percent of pay into the accounts, to which the government...

ALBANY, Oct. 11 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an inquiry into oversight of the New York State pension fund, which is drawing increasing scrutiny over claims that investment firms paid friends and relatives of former Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi in exchange for business. The S.E.C. began its examination several weeks ago, people with knowledge of it said, and is looking into potential civil violations of federal securities laws. The move follows an investigation of the same issue begun by the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, in January, along with an inquiry by P. David Soares,...

Costly Promises LOCKPORT, N.Y. — For two and a half years, Michael Tucker was mayor of this small city by day and an autoworker by night. Then in May, he became one of the nearly 50,000 workers at General Motors or its former Delphi parts division to take buyouts, lured by the $33,000-a-year pension his company offered. That pension, and a smaller one he expects to collect from the state after his years as mayor, makes him a little unusual in a nation where more and more workers are not covered by such plans. But now, as mayor of Lockport,...

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Santiago, Chile — During his visit here last month, President Bush pointed out that the Chilean pension model was a "great example" for Social Security reform in the United States. For 24 years, I have championed the Chilean retirement system, which is based on ownership, choice and personal responsibility. Having discussed our reforms with Mr. Bush as long ago as 1997 when he was governor of Texas, and having spoken at the White House Summit on Social Security in 1998 during the Clinton administration, I believe there is now an opportunity for a bipartisan agreement in the...

The federal agency that insures pension plans said yesterday that its deficit had grown from $3.6 billion to $11.2 billion in just a year and that it would try to deal with the escalating problem by overhauling its own investments, among other measures. The agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, said that two consecutive years of record failures by corporate pension plans and continuing adverse market conditions left it with a shortfall much greater than a year earlier, which had been the previous low point in the agency's 30-year history. People briefed on the new investment plan say the agency...

By Aldo Svaldi Denver Post Business Writer Retirement plan manager TIAA-CREF laid off more than 500 workers Monday, 70 in Denver, in a streamlining move. "We were looking to basically restructure the organization to better serve customers," said Stephanie Cohenglass, a spokeswoman for the New York-based money management firm. TIAA-CREF employs 6,000 people, including 1,200 in Denver after the cuts. Overall, the firm dismissed 8 percent of its workforce. In Denver, the cuts focused on information technology workers, Cohenglass said. TIAA-CREF maintained 27 different computer servers in multiple languages, an amount the company determined was excessive, she said. After they...