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San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Here is a new angle and something discuss when considering all the problems we now face... Bean counters and "fiscal conservatives" have turned us into balance sheet fanatics. Tax collections are down. California is struggling. Yet many want us to shore up the balance sheet of the government pension plans. For example CALPERS should only be helped if it has a liquidity crisis and cannot pay it current obligations. It is a long way from being there. However, if CALPERS continues to be a gunslinger with its investments, the funding formula needs to be changed. It needs to be something based on long-term return on investments, not the feast and famine formula now used. Some believe the accounting industry in the private sector worships the earnings statement, turning the balance sheet into a useless "plug." In government, the accounting industry has become balance sheet zealots. Governments do not even need balance sheets, CERTAINLY MUST take into account the "people's" ability to fund services they want at a reasonable cost. Balance sheets are relevant if there is a chance that the entity will be liquidated. Governments are perpetual entities. Where balance sheets make sense, the non-goverment part of our economy, they've been decimated by deference to the earnings statement. Have they become worthless? Most business balance sheets do not come close to presenting economic reality. Two things matter in government finance - liquidity (cash flow) and stewardship (spending the money properly).— March 19, 2009 11:56 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Whoa Johnny, oops I mean Slurp-puppy.... wasn't it you who said the case is never over at the trial level? Or was it until the fat lady sings??? How long do you expect appeals to go on through the federal courts? That is if appeals are filed. I don't expect this judge to publish. His attitude seems more toward getting the parties into resolution. His wording so far seems to point away from legislating from the Bench. He did make specific comments about the congress not covering Municipal employees, but went on to opine, it may have been an oversight due to the rare instances of Muni bankruptcies. The hearing scheduled for the 23rd will be interesting, especially if the parties have not reached an agreement by then.— March 18, 2009 7:36 p.m.
Union-Tribune Sold to Private Equity Group Teaming with Black Press, Long-Time Rumored Buyer
What IS that I shaking sensation? Oh it must be James and Helen Coply spinning in their graves!— March 18, 2009 1:03 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Regarding AIG..."AIG will settle up with the government over those bonuses." Our government is out of control! This morning I hear they, the Obama Administration may authorize more TARP bailout money, but withhold $165M to cover the bonuses??? HUH??? This is NUTS... While I don't always believe in crazy ideas, I'm beginning to wonder if the Mayan Calendar call of an apocalyptic end to "civilization" or like “Surfpuppy” a.k.a. you know who, has mentioned the demise of our culture. If we continue down this path AND AIG declares bankruptcy where does this leave the taxpayers?— March 18, 2009 6:39 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Ok Johnny, but it'll take some time to get use to the new moniker.— March 17, 2009 5:04 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
So it's surfpuppy, not surfpuppy619? But you'll always be Johnny Vegas to JF and me. So is the solution to recalculate pensions based on time served under the respective contracts? i.e. if you spent 20 years under the 2.5% rule calculate the amount for it, and 10 years under the 3% rule calculate the amount for it and design a pension hybrid. Wouldn't this eliminate the "retroactive" issues you complain about?— March 17, 2009 12:41 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
This just makes me wonder about the principle of detrimental reliance in contract law. For example, in the AIG situation on bonuses, the Obama Administration is making noises about recovering them through some method. Yet business gave contracts and employees make life/career decisions with a detrimental reliance based on contract promises. It’s been the same with City employees. They’ve been promised benefits and one wonders if any promise, made in the form of a contract, has any value?— March 17, 2009 11:46 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Is this the first hole in the dyke for Johnny and Don? "In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies. Municipal bankruptcy is so rare that no judge had yet ruled on whether Congressional reforms in the 1990s that required companies to provide worker protections before attempting to dissolve union contracts also applied to public workers' union contracts U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael McManus held March 13 that when Congress enacted 11 U.S.C. sec. 1113 to limit companies from outright rejection of union contracts it limited it to Chapter 11 bankruptcies. By failing to extend the limits to Chapter 9, which covers municipal bankruptcy, McManus said cities have broader latitude to break existing union pacts, In re City of Vallejo, 08-26813-A-9 (E. Dist. Calif.)" the full analysis here: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1…— March 17, 2009 7:33 a.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny, this is exact wording from the ballot, followed by the ballot results from the SF County Dept of Elections: "B : Creating a New Deferred Retirement Option Program for Members of the San Francisco Police Department" RESULTS Proposition B 580/580 100.00% Vote Count Percent YES 158,883 or 64.72% NO 86,613 or 35.28% Total 245,496 100.00% Gotta love the Internet for gathering facts. If 65% is not overwhelming I don't know what is. If candidate Obama received 64.72% of the vote it would have been called a landslide.— March 15, 2009 2:11 p.m.
San Diego City Employees pension fund ailing
Johnny my point was SF voters did approve a DROP program albeit different than San Diego's. With all the negatives about these programs don't you find it odd that the voters overwhelmingly approved one? There must have been some overriding factor where a need outweighed the financial risks. By the way, for those of you interested in reading the ruling in the most recent Vallejo matter here is the link to the PDF document: http://www.ci.vallejo.ca.us/uploads/712/031309%20…— March 15, 2009 10:01 a.m.