pensions - Page 2

CalPERS Reality Will End Left’s #CalExit Fantasy

As the #CalExit movement continues to draw favorable press — mostly in liberal publications bitter over Trump’s victory — its downfall just might be found in the fiscal realities facing CalPERS, the agency responsible for managing pensions and benefits for over 2 million California state employees.

CalPERS (Reuters / Max Whittaker)

L.A. Times Columnist’s Criticism of Pension Analysis Flawed

In a recent Los Angeles Times “Economy Hub” post on public-sector pensions, Michael Hiltzik took a shot at the California Policy Center for analyzing the average pensions of full-career Calpers retirees–those who work at least 30 years–in its pension analyses.

Reuters / Max Whittaker

CA Teacher Retirement Fund Dumps Firearms Shares

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has sold its investment in Remington Outdoor, the parent company for Bushmaster firearms–the firearm that Adam Lanza stole and used in his his heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary.

CalSTRS (Paul Sableman / Flickr / Creative Commons)

1970’s Constitution Fix Continues to Fuel Illinois Pension Crisis

The most pressing budget issue that the State of Illinois faces is its spiraling public pension debt. The problem is proving difficult to fix, not necessarily because the legislature refuses to try to fix it — though they are doing darn little — but because the problem is ensconced in the state’s Constitution, causing the state Supreme Court to rule against any changes in the pensions.

Deadbeat Illinois

Stock Market Peak: Worst-Case Scenario for CalPERS and CalSTRS

Investors celebrated the NASDAQ stock market topping the 5,000 level this week for the first time since March 2000. But there were no celebrations in Sacramento for the anniversary of the last time that California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) were over 100 percent funded.

AP Photo/Richard Drew

Jerry Brown Takes on the Left

Once again, California Gov. Jerry Brown is heading for a confrontation with labor groups, social welfare groups, and Democratic legislators who want Brown to raise taxes and expand spending. The newly re-elected Brown successfully pushed through temporary sales and income taxes three years ago with Proposition 30, but refuses to continue whole-heartedly in that direction, preferring to let the taxes die by 2018.

Jerry Brown (Rich Pedroncelli : Associated Press)

Cal Lawmaker Proposes Taxing Services to Pay Pensions

With California facing what Steven Greenhut calls “Death by Pension,” former Democrat Speaker of the California Assembly and newly elected State Senator Bob Hertzberg released details of his Senate Bill 8 tax manifesto. What he refers to as the “Upward

Bob Hertzberg (Ric Francis / AP)