life isn't fair
the Chicago cop could have went to work in Indiana
it isn't the Chicago cop's fault, but it's certainly not the Detroit cops problem to fix
hold the administrator's to the fire of accountability
I don't disagree and my proposal of subjecting the Public Sector Pensions to ERISA would do exactly what you are asking for here.
It's too late.
Report: Illinois, Chicago public pension crises worst in U.S.
This was an interesting read but I don't think it is quite as bad "too late" as you do, at least for most pensions.
Looking at some of what they present, there are only four states with funding of <60%. The worst states are:
- 51% Illinois
- 53% Kentucky
- 56% New Jersey
- 57% Connecticut
- 62% South Carolina
- 62% North Dakota
- 63% Alabama
- 63% Mississippi
- 64% Hawaii
- 64% Pennsylvania
As I see it, this isn't really even a partisan issue. Sure, some Republicans might point at Deep Blue Illinois and say this is because Democrats are in charge there but the next worst state is Deep Red Kentucky so that argument doesn't get far. Of the 10 worst I've got:
- 5 Deep Red (KY, SC, ND, AL, MS)
- 4 Deep Blue (IL, NJ, CT, HI)
- 1 Purple (PA)
At the other end of the spectrum, Deep Red Tennessee, South Dakota, and Utah are 100%+ funded but so is Deep Blue Washington with Deep Blue New York not far behind at 93%.
My point is that it isn't an issue where one party is solely responsible. There are Deep Red states with well funded Pensions and with catastrophically underfunded Pensions, same for Deep Blue states.
After looking at this article, I have now fleshed out my phase-in idea so here it is:
- Minimum of 50% funding one year from adoption.
- Increases by 2% per year for 25 years until reaching 100% funding requirement 26 years after adoption.
- Plans below the required funding level would have to have a Court/DOJ monitored actuarially realistic plan in place to reach 100% funding within 36 years of adoption or 10 years of current date whichever is later.
- Failure to comply would result in the plan being sent to bankruptcy court to be liquidated.
If you look at the 10 worst statewide plans, I think this would be difficult but achievable for all but a few, per the article linked by
@847badgerfan , worst statewide plans:
- 1.9% California Judges (but this one is pay-as-you-go)
- 21.7% Kentucky State Employees
- 30.1% New Jersey State Employees
- 32% Arizona Elected Officials
- 32.9% New Jersey State Police, Fire
- 36.4% Indiana Teachers pre-1996
- 39.3% New Jersey Teachers
- 40.7% Illinois State Employees
- 42.4% Illinois Judges
- 42.8% Illinois Teachers
The Illinois plans and the New Jersey Teachers are at least close to 50%, it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive to fix those over 36 years. The rest get trickier but there aren't THAT many Judges in California nor Elected Officials in Arizona so those wouldn't be all that expensive to just fund. The ones that look seriously problematic are the Kentucky and New Jersey State Employees and New Jersey Police and Fire. Those, I assume, are large plans with LOTS of beneficiaries so the States in question couldn't just fund them overnight. Severe changes would have to be made.
Looking at the large local plans (again from
@847badgerfan 's link) only Chicago laborers, police, municipal, and firefighters are below 40% funding. Those are seriously problematic and possibly looking at insolvency. The rest are all at at least 40% so they could be fixed over time (36 years as I laid it out above).
This isn't impossible to solve but it gets worse every year that nothing is done. What say you on the legal side
@MarqHusker and from a different political perspective
@SFBadger96 ?
