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San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
The city may not providing the services it should and the infrastructure may be a mess(it is), but if they are still "paying the bills" it doesn't appear as if bk is an option.....yet. By brianwilson =================================== We are bankrupt right now on a cash flow basis-which is what a Ch 9 BK is for muni's. We can not pay for existing maintenience of infrastructe, pension obligations, benefits or wages. 70% of the pension funding last year-$100 out of the $163 million contributed, came fom the tobacco money lawsuit settlement-and we were still short aout $500 million that Sanders promised the unions to shore up the fund (actually the $100 million tobacco settlement was being paid to San Diego over 20 years-so Sanders got a lump sum settlement from wall street-maybe .50 cents on the dollar). From a cash flow BK we qualify. Your statement that wemay not be is one the unions will make to try to have the judge not declare the city bankrupt-which is what the Vallejo unions did. But they did not succeed-and I suspect a judge would find San Diego does indeed meet the Ch 9 definition of BK. It is ultimately a question of law for a judge to decide though.— January 1, 2009 3:08 p.m.
San Diego Home Prices Back to Levels of March '03, Down 36% from '05 Peak
Here-read this; Taking into account the correlation between the overall rise in consumer credit card debt and the rate of individual bankruptcy filings, the author nevertheless hypothesizes that not all credit card debt is troubling. Instead, the author proposes that the catalyst driving individual bankruptcy rates higher than ever is the level of "bad credit"-or credit extended to individuals even though there is a reasonable likelihood that the individual will be forced to default. While the author recognizes the need to hold individuals accountable for the debt they incur, he contends that bankruptcy reform should be targeted towards those creditors who are partly, if not chiefly, responsible for causing a debtor to default, given creditors' competitive advantage in determining the repayment capacity of individuals. To this end, the author explores the idea of imposing private liability on consumer lenders who bear primary responsibility for a debtor's financial default through a contract defense to collection, or possibly an affirmative cause of action in tort. Possible consequences of this proposal, such as a reduction in lending activity, are considered and addressed. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?… Paper #1-click downloan http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2007/02/pot…— January 1, 2009 10:19 a.m.
San Diego Home Prices Back to Levels of March '03, Down 36% from '05 Peak
Response to post #5: If you prosecute people who abused their credit, will you also prosecute the corporate chieftains and financial industry moguls who ran the country into the ditch, and are keeping their obscenely excessive salaries? Best, Don Bauder ================================== Funny you posted that DON, University of Michigan law professor John Pottow recently published a law review article that baically said if credit card comanies, and other issuers of credit, issued credit to people they know, or should know, would not have the means to pay the debt back then they shold be held accoutible at law...............I will try to hunt that down.— January 1, 2009 10:13 a.m.
City of Industry to Vote Jan. 20 on $500 Million Infrastructure Bond that Would Serve Planned New Stadium
There's a rumor circulating among local contractors that the City is going to receive federal funding to build (1) a new football stadium, (2) a new City Hall, and (3) a new library. Funding for these projects is rumored to be included in the tentative draft of the public works component of President Obama's proposed fiscal stimulus package. ============================================= If a private non profit business like the NFL gets ANY taxpayer money for a pro football stadium, anywhere in this coutry, through that public works program ... then that's it-I am moving to a real free market, or at least something more free than the USA at the moment-like Cuba.— December 31, 2008 8:46 p.m.
Wall Street Journal Puffs Up Sam Wyly, Ignoring Offshore Tax Shenanigans Uncovered by Congressional Investigators
When the top 1/10 of the top 1% get away with this nonsense then the entire system loses credibility and breaks down. They only get away with it because they are bribing congress with campaign contributions. There was a book published about 28, 30 years ago called "Citizen Hughes", it was about Howard Hughes and how he bought influence and evaded taxes- including how a $1 million dollar campaign contribution bought his Hughes Medical Center a $25 million dollar tax break......directly from his legal bribe-that's how Washington runs.......— December 31, 2008 8:41 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
The tax increase by a BK judge is an intersting question. I don't have the answer, but I would speculate that once you have submitted yourself to the jurisdiction of the court that anything the court does- within reason - goes. As for your comment about when the pensions were spiked I think the big increases came in 2000, but it doesn' really matter-the spikes caused severe financial damage, and they were not funded by the people who received them-even using yur numbers of 1/3 to 1/2 (which are low IMO) that means they received spiked pensions for 2/3's to 1/2 of their working years- where they did not contribute or pay for those extra pension spikes. Last-if the spikes were not given, then the pension fund would be 41% higher-using the number you povided-and that would bring the fund to safe levels.— December 31, 2008 6:51 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Finally found it-Here it is; http://www.sandiego.gov/pensionreform/pdf/finalre…— December 31, 2008 5:06 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
I have a 40, 50 page study from the old CEO of National Ship Building who sat on a San Diego government board, and it is a pretty in-depth review of the pension mess and how it got that way...Ill have to find that thing...what he said in the study was that in some years the employees pension contribtions were "picked up" by the City in leui of wage increases (very stupid move IMO), but that the following years afer this, pay raises were given that were basically much larger, to play catch up, yet the pension "pick up" remained. Here s a draft of the report...still looking for the final report; http://www.sandiego.gov/pensionreform/pdf/min0408…— December 31, 2008 5:02 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
OK JF, here we go; 1- The SDCERS funding ratio will come back as the market comes back. The bill to the city will likely be higher... in FY2011. We'll see how it goes between now and then. ====== The system is underfunded by billions, and the notion that the market is "coming back" to the tune of the 80% funding ratio it needs to be considered safe would require curent funding to get returns of 50% for over 5 years, not counting new obligations. Sorry-not happening. The system is not coming back, it is bankrupt from a legal funding ratio (80%), from an asset liability-ratio, and from a cash flow ratio. 2- Here's the thing you simply do not get, Johnny. It's not a function if whether or not YOU think we've earned our pensions or not. You can spout off all you want, but I have yet to see any actual action. If you truly feel that you as a taxpayer have been wronged, go ahead a file a lawsuit. If the system cannot pay out the pension benefits because it is unfunded then the City has to file BK-has nothing to do with my position-that is just what will happen. If you think taxpayers are going to go along with spending 25%, 35%, 40% or more of the general fund to bailout the pension fund while the city falls apart I think you're wrong. Guys like, Rider, Aguirre, Keith Richman in OC, we have all souded the alarms that these pensions cannot be sustaned and that has proven to be true. I told you and RW 1-2 years ago, when you both comlained about your pay at SDPD and FD and how much Chula Vista was paying, that Chula Vista would go BK with their pay and pensions-and they are now in far worse shape than San Diego is. Last-what are you trying to get the union to negotiate??????— December 31, 2008 2:46 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Opps...Missed a question; 5- Finally, what, or should I ask when, in your opinion, does a employee "earn" their pension? Retroactive pension spikes/increases are not earned, they are a gift of public funds. If you started working for the City under a specific pension, then that is the pension you should get. What happened throughout the nation the last 8-10 years is muni's retroactively raised pensions by as much as 50% (2%@55/60 to 3%@50)for ALL employees regardless of when they started (without the funds to pay for it) creating billions in unfunded pension obligations with the stroke of a pen. So if you were 1, 2 3 years away from a 2%@55 pension and it is retroactively changed to 3%@50 you have been granted an increase of over 50%- that was the "not earned" I refer to, not the portion they were legitimately entitled to. Certainly the employee has earned the original pension they came into the system with and paid into, but not a single cent from the retroactive pension spike.— December 31, 2008 2:34 p.m.