So, I have discussed before – many times, actually, in the wake of Detroit and similar experiences with municipal finances across the country – that public pensions pose a moral, political and economic dilemma. They are underfunded (even many of the ones that aren’t in the news) and something, someday, is going to have to
Pensions
Three for Thursday
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Fiduciaries, Pensions
Well, some of you may recall that when I joined Twitter, I originally did it so that I would have an additional outlet to point out and comment on the various interesting articles and commentaries that cross my desk. Twitter, though, turned out to be a two way street, with it driving interesting articles …
Public Pensions After Detroit and Stockton
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
Well, returning briefly to my series on municipal bankruptcies – you really can’t write regularly about pensions in this day and age without addressing, even if unwillingly, that topic – the NY Times has a very interesting article on Stockton, California’s effort to leave bankruptcy, by basically shorting bondholders while leaving the ever rising pension…
Should the DOL Further Regulate Derisking?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
You know, I was just going to tweet about this article, but I realized I had too much to say on this to be limited to 140 characters (I always have too much to say to be limited to 140 characters, but I often cut myself off at that number anyway, or else I could…
A Called Shot: Mangiero Predicted the Public Pension Crisis 6 Years Ago
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
Last week, Thomas Clark was kind enough to point out in his FRA PlanTools blog that, in a series of posts and an article a few years back, I had guessed right on the future of excessive fee litigation in the courts. At the same time that he was writing that post, I was in…
Thoughts on Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi and “Looting the Pension Funds”
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Well, I did not really set out to write “public pensions” week on my blog, although it ended up working out that way, solely because two different articles on the fiscal crisis impacting government pensions caught my eye earlier this week. Having, for better or worse, gone down that rabbit hole, though, I now feel…
Public Pensions, Overpromising, and Municipal Discipline: the Lessons of San Jose
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
Interestingly, when I wrote yesterday on the question of imposing discipline on public pension financing, the NY Times had not yet published – at least on the on-line version that I skim each day – this detailed, and frankly harrowing, article on the pension obligations faced by San Jose and the problems it is causing…
Imposing Discipline on Promises of Public Pensions
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
I am not sure there is anything in this article that will surprise anyone who is a regular reader of this blog, or who follows the issues raised by public and private pensions, including their financing. More than that, I doubt there is anything in it that anyone knowledgeable about the subject will disagree with:…
CalPERS and Passive Investing: A Couple of Thoughts
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have had a couple of interesting conversations recently about CalPERS considering going to index/passive investing. As I have noted in the past, if a major and highly influential pension fund goes that route, how long will it be until others follow, seeking both safety in numbers and the potential defense to breach of fiduciary…
Why Jobs are Job 1, to Steal from an Old Ford Ad
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Pensions
Here’s a great piece – and not just because I am complimented in it – by Susan Mangiero on the continuing problem of workforce participation, and the impact on retirement financing of a less than robust job market. As Susan has pointed out in other posts, less workers, in a nutshell, equals fewer taxpayers and…