[NormsRevenge]

Associated Press

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, surrounded by props, conducts a news conference Thursday Feb. 10, 2005 in San Diego, to push his plan for pension reform.

A game of financial chicken lies ahead. We'll see who 'Brinks' first. ;-)

[John Lenin]

bttt

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Wake me when Arnold pushes for immigration reform ;-)

[kingu]

Hmm. Taking on the teacher's union. Taking on the public employees. Taking on the multimillionaire liberal casino operating tribes. Damn it, Arnold, you're putting that RINO designation in real jeopardy here.

[drypowder]

Will the revamping of the State's pension plan include elected offices, legislatures, judges, sheriffs, etc. Some where I've read "a worthy leader always eats the same food as those he leads".

[tubebender]

Anything that gives Barbara Cur (Kerr) indigestion and heart failure at the same time...

[doctor noe]

Not to treat the immigration issue lightly, but pension reform is the single most important issue that must be tackled...immediately. If placed on the ballot, pension reform will be approved by the voters, despite millions of dollars spent by the unions. The net long-term, positive effect on taxpayer dollars would be enormous. I would hope that any pension reform plan would place a cap on "employer contributions" at 3%, just like the private sector.

[BenLurkin]

There a lot of California voters who are either in CALPERS or are married to someone who is or is friends with someone who is. Destabilizing the public pension system may not be a wise move for the future.

[calcowgirl]

At the San Diego Tribune website there is a link to listen to Arnold's comments today. He keeps says there has been a 1600% increase in contributions in the last 5 years, implying it has to do with increased benefits. What a bunch of cr@p! This is false advertising at its finest!

Mercury News

There is much reason to question turning to 401(k) plans, including the possibility that the transition costs will eat up any savings. One alleged justification, the rise in state pension costs from $160 million in 2000 to $2.6 billion today, is simply deceptive. In 2000, an anomaly, a booming stock market nearly eliminated the need for the state to contribute to the fund. Pension costs are not doubling annually.

San Francisco Chronicle

-- Current shortfalls in some municipal pension funds are not because of bloated benefits. Rather, they are the result of the precipitous drop in the stock market in 2000-2001 that affected even giant pension-fund managers such as CalPERS. Yet the governor and his friends now want to shift all the stock- market risk from fund managers to employees.

-- Defined-contribution plans are not cheaper to administer. According to CalPERS, it costs 18 cents per $100 invested to administer a defined-benefit plan. At the same time, it can cost up to $1.35 per $100 -- or nearly eight times as much -- to administer a 401(k)-type plan.

(snip)

Indeed, a report two weeks ago by Milliman Consultants and Actuaries found that Los Angeles County would pay nearly $1.3 billion more to administer the Schwarzenegger/Richman pension plan between 2007 and 2017 than it would pay for the current plan. And the Schwarzenegger/Richman plan would not result in a net savings until at least 2024.

[Tempest]

""With a defined contribution plan in place for California, we won't have billion-dollar pension deficits sneaking up on us," he said. "We won't have cuts in services to finance our state retirements, and we won't have taxpayers left holding the bag for political giveaways up in Sacramento."

I can dig it.