Posted on 11/08/2009 11:00:33 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
CalPERS' image takes a hit
Shrinking assets and the taint of ties to so-called placement agents threaten to erode the California Public Employees' Retirement System's reputation as a leader among public pension funds.
By Tom Petruno and Stuart Pfeifer
November 9, 2009
For much of the last decade the California Public Employees' Retirement System cultivated the image of a cutting-edge pension fund -- pouring billions of dollars into potentially lucrative but high-risk investments, hounding companies to rein in executive pay and championing financial security for government workers.
Now, CalPERS finds itself caught in a maelstrom of troubles that threatens its reputation as the gold standard for public pension funds.
Slammed by huge investment losses in last year's meltdown of financial markets, the nation's largest public retirement plan faces questions about its long-term ability to make good on the benefits it owes more than 1.6 million workers, retirees and their families.
All Californians have a stake in the fund's performance: If CalPERS' $200-billion portfolio comes up short, and state and local governments refuse to cut workers' benefits, the bill falls to taxpayers -- many of whom have no guaranteed pension benefits of
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Ping!
And Kalifornia keeps voting Democrat.
... faces questions about its long-term ability to make good on the benefits it owes more than 1.6 million workers, retirees and their families.””
and that is exactly the problem !
Nuff said
yitbos
Taxpayers must be awfully wealthy in U.S. They are asked to bail out just about everything, each of which requires astronomical amount of money in size.
Fortunately, this article refers to California taxpayers. They should have enough Mexicans in the state to pay the extra levee.
Unfortunately, most all municipalities and state pension funds are grossly underfunded, even in boom times.
States and local governments are some of the largest recipients of ObamaCare in the form of "Build America Bonds". Thought states were broke? They are borrowing from Uncle Sam.
yitbos
EXCERPT A new study examines the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens, and concludes the costs to Californians is $10.5 BILLION per year. The state's already struggling K-12 education system spends approximately $7.7 billion a year to school the children of illegal aliens. Another $1.4 billion of taxpayer's money goes toward providing health care to illegal aliens.
The same amount is spent incarcerating illegal alien criminals. Back in 1994 California voters rebelled and overwhelmingly passed Proposition 187, which sought to limit liability for mass illegal immigration. Since then state and local governments have blatantly IGNORED the wishes of the voters and continued to shell out public benefits on illegal aliens. Predictably, the costs of illegal immigration have grown geometrically, while the state has spiraled into a fiscal crisis that's brought it near bankruptcy. Read more at http://www.charlotteconservative.com/index.php/2009/10/california-broke-thanks-mexico/
These are the words in a highly acclaimed book about the impact of illegal aliens on California: "As tax consumers continue to flood in from Mexico, and taxpayers flee, the state is sinking in a sea of red ink. Fed up with rising crime rates and rising taxes to subsidize illegal aliens, citizens are leaving. California is going home to Mexico. Who can deny it? With 150,000 whites leaving California each year and 43% of all Californians under 18 Hispanic, Califonia is becoming - indeed, has become - a Third World state." Welcome to Mexifornia! Seems that war we waged against Mexico in 1846-48 under President Polk was a defeat and not a victory after all!
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QUOTING CONG TOM TANCREDO: “Juan Hernandez headed up the newly-created "Ministry of Mexicans Living in the United States." Hernandez is a very interesting fellow, a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, and a good friend of presidents Bush and Mexico's Vicente Fox (and John MacCain's Hispanic outreach man)."
Hernandez said the purpose of the Mexican government agency he heads is:
(1) to increase the flow of Mexican nationals to the United States.....
(2) to serve Mexico’s needs.........
(3) to increase remittances to Mexico of $50 billion a year (30% of the Mexican GDP);
(4) to get US jobs for an exploding Mexican population, alleviating social instability due to rising unemployment;
(5) to get free US training for Mexicans, who are expected to return and repatriate those skills back to Mexico.
Hernandez supports amnesty: "By populating the United States with millions of Hispanics tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, we are able to exert enormous influence and pressure on US policy and its dealings with Mexico." NOTE: That means billions of US tax dollars subsidizing corrupt federales.
SOURCE http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33894
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An immigration judge recently refused to grant "political asylum" in the US to a Honduran national who was claiming "persecution" ........... and the monetary benefits that come with it.
ANALYSIS Corrupt Third World govts are coaching their citizens to whine about "persecution" to seek "asylum" in the US.......b/c they know that they can collect Soc/Sec checks (even though they have not contributed one red cent to SS).
CASE IN POINT The bogus Mexican "drug war" was engineered to create a whole new class of illegal connivers....."persecuted refugees" seeking "asylum" in the US.
BACKSTORY Social Security's "persecution" classification was once reserved for those claiming religious or political persecution. Now the Mexican govt is coaching its citizens to pour into the US, whining about "persecution from abusive spouses, and from drug wars". Some of these whiners are wealthy people , squatting on US soil, intent on draining the US treasury.
THE RIPOFF UP CLOSE Social Security provides outrageous government financial aid to "refugees" claiming "persecution." These people never paid a dime into the SS system; yet, they can collect seven years straight...... and can get extended payments if they are politically well-connected. The SS checks can amount to $1000 a month, and more. The category was created for those coming from eastern Europe and other Soviet satellite countries circa WW II....and they're STILL collecting. Just another way these connivers drain the US Treasury.
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ACTION NOW Call your reps and demand these payments and the "persecuted refugee" classification be stopped.
Call Congress 202-224-3121.
Toll-free switchboard: 800-965-4701----800-828-0498----877-762-8762
GET THIS PUBLICIZED
FOX CONTACT PAGE http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html
FOX PHONE 1-888-369-4762
When the governor and legislators talk about balancing the state budget, they're talking about closing the gap between revenues and required expenditures, either by increasing the former or reducing the latter. The task becomes more difficult by the minute.
Looming on the not-too-distant horizon, however, are some other huge obligations that the current crop of elected officeholders has chosen to ignore, because acknowledging them would make closing the chronic budget gap just that much harder.
There is, for example, a potentially huge increase in the "contribution" that the state must make to the California Public Employees' Retirement System to cover public pensions.
CalPERS has seen its once-immense investment portfolio shrink dramatically, due to recession and some truly boneheaded investments, such as a $1 billion haircut on raw land in Southern California. Big increases in pension benefits, enacted a decade ago, are also a factor.
CalPERS won't tell the state how much its boost will be until sometime next year, but it could be hefty, unless CalPERS postpones the pain by stretching out the bite over several years – which would merely postpone the pain. An even bigger headache is a new requirement that state and local governments identify and quantify their obligations for providing health care to their retired employees. The state auditor's office and an advisory commission told the state two years ago that its unfunded liability for health care is $48 billion.
State officials were advised to commit $3.73 billion during the current fiscal year to begin shrinking the unfunded liability, but the state is paying just $1.36 billion to cover its current costs. The Legislature, under the sway of unions, rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to overhaul employee health care to save money, but he's trying again, seeking to increase the amount of time it takes...(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ......
I have a pdf file on the matter, anyone know of any free space to post it?
What it says is when the Porkulus money runs out the Baby Boomer Heath and Retirement Liabilities for the State of MI kick in big-time in 2011.
There is a $&it storm coming to the State of Michigan's Governmental Finances that will make your head spin.....
Why is there no clawback on these friends and family?
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