If you're a California voter, you've been the victim of a scam perpetuated by the state's public sector unions:
[Actual] CalPERS data shows the average career public employee, who put in at least 30 years of service and retired in the 2008-09 fiscal year, collected a starting pension of $67,000 a year, or 2.5 times the advertised figure [by CalPERS]...
The pension numbers are even higher for the separate local retirement systems that cover employees of the two East Bay county governments. The average was $85,500 for career workers who retired in 2009 from the Contra Costa system, and $83,000 from Alameda County. A majority of these workers also receive Social Security, which could add, very roughly, about another $19,000 to the annual pension.
More here. 1) think California doesn't spend enough on education? 55% of California's general fund will be spent on education (43% on K-12; and 12% on higher education); and 2) think we should tax people more? Think harder. If you're a company and want to expand, are you going to expand someplace where you and your workers have access to cheaper housing, reasonable wages, and lower taxes, or someplace with higher housing costs, higher salaries, and higher taxes?
What about taxing corporations instead of individuals, you ask? From David Walker's book, Comeback America (hardcover, page 121): "we must realize that corporations don't really pay taxes. Rather, they pass along any tax, in the form of higher prices to consumers, lower wages to workers, and/or lower returns to shareholders." It turns out trickle down economics exists--at least when it comes to taxes.
Bonus I: from Calvin Massey:
In the private sector a union bargains for a greater share of the entity’s revenue and profits. What it can provide in return is greater productivity, accomplished perhaps by work force stability, higher morale, and the belief that the common fate of employer and employee will be enhanced by productivity gains. If this happy event ensues, at the next round of collective bargaining, union workers can and should receive their fair share of the resulting gains.
In the public sector, by contrast, a union is not bargaining for a greater share of the revenue produced by economic activity; it is bargaining for a greater share of revenue that is obtained by force of law – taxation – or, if not a greater share, at least for a constant share of those revenues extracted from the citizens. What a public sector union can and does provide in return is political support for the faction that chooses to increase taxes or the union’s share of existing taxes. If public sector unions deliver on their support, they will be rewarded by ever more generous payments. There is no market that acts as an external monitor of worker compensation; there is only a steady repetition of a corrosive bargain – tax the public ever more in order to maintain political power. That is inimical to responsible government.
It appears Calvin Massey is a law professor at UC Hastings. Bravo!
Bonus II: Christopher Caldwell, FT, 2/25/11:
Public-sector unions have long posed a problem of what the economist Mancur Olson called the “logic of collective action”. Democracy tends to offer benefits to small, well-organised groups (who defend them vigilantly) while spreading the costs among the broader public (in doses that are too small to rally resistance around). The result is a hardening of privilege. What is new in Wisconsin is that those who do not belong to public-employee unions see this logic as clearly as those who do.
"And if an epitaph be my story, I'd have a short one ready for my own: I had a lover's quarrel with the world." -- Robert Frost
Showing posts with label Calpers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calpers. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, July 11, 2009
California's Education and Pension Costs Out of Control
From AP writer Judy Lin:
Funding for K-12 schools and community colleges accounts for roughly half of annual state spending.
Funny how we haven't gotten smarter, but we've definitely gotten poorer. Meanwhile, California's state worker pension fund--which includes teachers' pensions--is still worth $177.7 billion. (Yes, that's billion with a "b.")
After years of staying mostly neutral, the San Jose Mercury News (July 7, 2009) finally issued an editorial opinion asking Sacramento to enact pension reform:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12772192
The unfortunate truth is that the Democrat-controlled Legislature has been too quick to increase pension benefits and will resist reconsidering them unless it's forced to. Now is the time to do that...
Now, because of stock market declines and rising costs of health care, retirement costs are already siphoning $3.3 billion from the state budget, just when California is facing substantial cuts in education and services to the poor. That cost is expected to rise steeply. [Emphasis added]
By the way, in case you're wondering, state workers get the following benefits: "3 percent of pay for every year worked, up to 90 percent maximum after 30 years for safety officers and 60 percent for other employees." Where can non-government workers get 60% of their salary guaranteed in retirement? If you discover a place that allows non-executives to claim the 60% retirement bracket, let me know. I won't be holding my breath.
Update on July 12, 2009:
For the record, I favor increasing teachers' salaries as long as pension costs are eliminated. Why not replace teachers' pensions with 403b plans (the public-sector equivalent of a 401k)? If a 401k/403b is good enough for a Google/Apple/Target employee, why isn't it good enough for a government employee, too?
The average government worker should not have better retirement benefits than the average non-government worker. Is a secretary or lawyer who works for the government "better" than a secretary who works for Pfizer or Pepsi? I don't think so, especially not when the modern economy is so inter-connected.
Retirement benefits like lifetime pensions and lifetime medical care are inherently unstable because you have to predict how long a worker will live--that's not an easy task. As a result, costs are unpredictable, which makes accurate budget planning difficult. Why not create a budget framework that allows us to definitively ascertain employee costs without worrying about the ticking time bombs of unfunded, unpredictable long-term liabilities?
Funding for K-12 schools and community colleges accounts for roughly half of annual state spending.
Funny how we haven't gotten smarter, but we've definitely gotten poorer. Meanwhile, California's state worker pension fund--which includes teachers' pensions--is still worth $177.7 billion. (Yes, that's billion with a "b.")
After years of staying mostly neutral, the San Jose Mercury News (July 7, 2009) finally issued an editorial opinion asking Sacramento to enact pension reform:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12772192
The unfortunate truth is that the Democrat-controlled Legislature has been too quick to increase pension benefits and will resist reconsidering them unless it's forced to. Now is the time to do that...
Now, because of stock market declines and rising costs of health care, retirement costs are already siphoning $3.3 billion from the state budget, just when California is facing substantial cuts in education and services to the poor. That cost is expected to rise steeply. [Emphasis added]
By the way, in case you're wondering, state workers get the following benefits: "3 percent of pay for every year worked, up to 90 percent maximum after 30 years for safety officers and 60 percent for other employees." Where can non-government workers get 60% of their salary guaranteed in retirement? If you discover a place that allows non-executives to claim the 60% retirement bracket, let me know. I won't be holding my breath.
Update on July 12, 2009:
For the record, I favor increasing teachers' salaries as long as pension costs are eliminated. Why not replace teachers' pensions with 403b plans (the public-sector equivalent of a 401k)? If a 401k/403b is good enough for a Google/Apple/Target employee, why isn't it good enough for a government employee, too?
The average government worker should not have better retirement benefits than the average non-government worker. Is a secretary or lawyer who works for the government "better" than a secretary who works for Pfizer or Pepsi? I don't think so, especially not when the modern economy is so inter-connected.
Retirement benefits like lifetime pensions and lifetime medical care are inherently unstable because you have to predict how long a worker will live--that's not an easy task. As a result, costs are unpredictable, which makes accurate budget planning difficult. Why not create a budget framework that allows us to definitively ascertain employee costs without worrying about the ticking time bombs of unfunded, unpredictable long-term liabilities?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Generous Benefits Will Bankrupt California
From the WSJ, 12/18/08, A4:
Calpers, which stands for California Public Employees' Retirement System, is California's pension fund for government workers. It provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.6 million state and local public employees. From June 2007 to June 2008, the fund declined from $239 billion to $182 billion. Basically, Calpers lost $57 billion of taxpayer monies. Even with this loss, Calpers has almost $113,000 for each California employee's retirement and health benefits. This amount sounds generous, and it's certainly better than what most Americans have, but the pension is still underfunded. As a result, taxpayers will be forced to pay higher taxes to make up the shortfall, or will suffer inflation and a weaker American dollar as the government prints money to give to itself. In this way, public pensions are ticking time bombs, ready to release dangerous inflation unless something is done.
Congress and state legislatures talk about regulation, but they don't pass laws forcing cities and states to fully fund their pensions and/or to prevent borrowing money from pension funds. I remember Al Gore talking about putting Social Security funds into a "lock box," i.e. a box that is untouchable. Too often, when cities, counties, and states need money to finance a project or to cover a revenue shortfall, they dip into the retirement funds of police officers, firefighters, and other government employees. Eventually, the monies will have to be paid because a) the government employees have paid into the system; and b) the political will to reduce or deny retirement funds is non-existent. Just witness the auto bailout--if we cannot avoid printing money to give to GM and Chrysler, which lost billions of dollars annually, we surely cannot avoid printing money to give to retirees).
In addition to creating a lock box, the government needs to pare down benefits. Every dollar paid to a government employee means another dollar coming out of non-government employee pockets. Here is a quote from the WSJ story:
Like many residents who work for private employers, Ms. Nolan-Stewart, an AT&T manager, says she is astounded at the generosity of public-employee pensions. "If I were to retire, my retirement would be one-quarter of what I make today for the rest of my life," she says. By contrast, city firefighters and police who retire at age 50 with 30 years of service may retire with 90% or more of their final salary.
The WSJ (12/17/08, A1) also reported that Calpers used leverage (borrowed money) to boost returns; however, using leverage also means that losses are magnified, which may explain the fund's recent poor performance.
So Calpers engaged in a risky investment strategy with taxpayer money, and few Californians seem to care. Americans seem to have been so distracted with Iraq, they forgot about domestic surveillance and protecting our finances from government ineptitude. That's too bad, because history shows that every major empire has collapsed from within, not from an outside threat.
Calpers, which stands for California Public Employees' Retirement System, is California's pension fund for government workers. It provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.6 million state and local public employees. From June 2007 to June 2008, the fund declined from $239 billion to $182 billion. Basically, Calpers lost $57 billion of taxpayer monies. Even with this loss, Calpers has almost $113,000 for each California employee's retirement and health benefits. This amount sounds generous, and it's certainly better than what most Americans have, but the pension is still underfunded. As a result, taxpayers will be forced to pay higher taxes to make up the shortfall, or will suffer inflation and a weaker American dollar as the government prints money to give to itself. In this way, public pensions are ticking time bombs, ready to release dangerous inflation unless something is done.
Congress and state legislatures talk about regulation, but they don't pass laws forcing cities and states to fully fund their pensions and/or to prevent borrowing money from pension funds. I remember Al Gore talking about putting Social Security funds into a "lock box," i.e. a box that is untouchable. Too often, when cities, counties, and states need money to finance a project or to cover a revenue shortfall, they dip into the retirement funds of police officers, firefighters, and other government employees. Eventually, the monies will have to be paid because a) the government employees have paid into the system; and b) the political will to reduce or deny retirement funds is non-existent. Just witness the auto bailout--if we cannot avoid printing money to give to GM and Chrysler, which lost billions of dollars annually, we surely cannot avoid printing money to give to retirees).
In addition to creating a lock box, the government needs to pare down benefits. Every dollar paid to a government employee means another dollar coming out of non-government employee pockets. Here is a quote from the WSJ story:
Like many residents who work for private employers, Ms. Nolan-Stewart, an AT&T manager, says she is astounded at the generosity of public-employee pensions. "If I were to retire, my retirement would be one-quarter of what I make today for the rest of my life," she says. By contrast, city firefighters and police who retire at age 50 with 30 years of service may retire with 90% or more of their final salary.
The WSJ (12/17/08, A1) also reported that Calpers used leverage (borrowed money) to boost returns; however, using leverage also means that losses are magnified, which may explain the fund's recent poor performance.
So Calpers engaged in a risky investment strategy with taxpayer money, and few Californians seem to care. Americans seem to have been so distracted with Iraq, they forgot about domestic surveillance and protecting our finances from government ineptitude. That's too bad, because history shows that every major empire has collapsed from within, not from an outside threat.
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