Posted on 01/25/2011 8:58:59 AM PST by FromLori
We read last night's news that the massively underfunded Illinois pension fund is now the subject of an SEC inquiry with little surprise: "The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into public statements by Illinois officials about the state's underfunded pension fund, the state's governor's office confirmed Monday night. The Illinois inquiry is focused on public statements concerning an overhaul measure passed in 2010 meant to help shore up the retirement system, said the governor's spokeswoman, Kelly Kraft." The issue at hand is nothing short of complete accounting fraud: "An issue being examined is whether Illinois was taking future savings and treating them as current reductions in the cost of the pension fund, said Robert Kurtter, a managing director in the public finance division at Moody's Investors Service, who said his firm spoke with Illinois officials about the inquiry. One of the measures that Illinois took to save costs was to raise the retirement age for newly hired Illinois workers." To be sure if proven, which the porn freaks at the SEC will never be able to do, unless the pension fund has animate midget porn gifs on every excel spreadheet, this only means that absolutely nobody will go to jail for massively misrepresenting the truth. What we are far more interested in is whether the Illinois Teachers Retriement System, which as readers will recall took offense to us saying they are insolvent last summer, will be the next to follow in being charged with gross fiduciary breach and alleged accounting fraud. Now that development would most certainly not surprise us.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Politicians have been “Enron-ing” that taxpayers for some time now. If governments pension funding laws were the same as private industry’s accounting they’d go to jail.
Guess what, they are - get the popcorn.
Poor reporting on this issue, because it does not specifically name which fund(s). The IL teacher’s pension is pretty bad, but its partly their fault from what I understand since they signed onto a loot and promise deal years ago with the politicians.
So they find fraud. So they fine the taxpayers. Double victims.
Illinois politicians lying about pension funds?? What has the world come to, can’t trust anyone these days
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