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Fair Market Valuation Unfunded Liability (in thousands) 1. California
$754,049,342 2. Illinois
$331,579,500 3. New York
$307,932,488 4. Texas
$296,099,832 5. Ohio
$289,603,831 6. New Jersey
$200,150,052 7. Florida
$183,400,221 8. Pennsylvania
$181,834,408 9. Michigan
$136,352,801 10. Massachusetts
$104,045,210
Funding Ratio 1. Illinois
22% 2. Connecticut
23% 3. Kentucky
24% 4. Alaska
25% 5. Mississippi
27% 6. Kansas
28% 7. New Hampshire
28% 8. Hawaii
29% 9. Massachusetts
29% 10. North Dakota
29%
Fair Market Valuation Unfunded Liability Per Capita 1. Alaska
$40,639 2. Illinois
$25,740 3. Ohio
$25,028 4. Connecticut
$24,080 5. New Jersey
$22,491 6. New Mexico
$22,251 7. Hawaii
$21,852 8. Nevada
$21,472 9. Wyoming
$19,698 10. California
$19,671
Welcome to Greece at the state level in quite a few states.
Not even close to being correct. Do you know what unfunded liability means? If every state employee retired immediately, that is the amount of money the state would have to come up with to pay their pensions. Now, do you think that has even the slightest bearing on reality? Of course not. But it does make a nice scare tactic that sucks in the uninformed now, doesn't it?
Here's another way to look at it so that anyone without any financial acumen can understand: let's say you buy a house for $300k, put down $50k, and get a mortgage for the remaining $250,000. You now have a personal unfunded liability of a quarter of a million dollars!! Ooooooohhhhh! Scary, isn't it? No? Well, of course, it's not scary because you don't have to come up with all that money immediately. You're going to make payments over the next 30 years out of your future income. Nevertheless, the entire $250,000 is on the books as an unfunded liability even though you don't have to come up with the money immediately.
Now that you understand what an unfunded liability is, do you still want to compare public pension liability to Greece? I would certainly hope not.
The date on the article is Nov 2014 so I presume the data is fairly recent.
The next decade is going to see an awful lot of states with no choice but to slash pension and retiree health care benefits.
Thanks. Yes, the data are about as recent as you can get with a large study including all 50 states. We are all interested in our own state's situation, so I looked at the funding ratio and made a list of the best, rather than the worst, to see how far down I would have to go to get to California:
1. 67% Wisconsin
2. 52% South Dakota
3. 50% North Carolina
4. 46% TN
5. 45% Delaware
6. 44% NY
7. 43% WA
8. 43% Idaho
9. 42% Maine
10. 42% FL
11. 41% Utah
12. 41% Iowa
13. 41% Georgia
14. 40% OR
15. 39% Texas
16. 39% Calif.
So while CA came out O.K. nationally in that parameter, the actual percentages do not particularly inspire confidence.
Thanks. Yes, the data are about as recent as you can get with a large study including all 50 states. We are all interested in our own state's situation, so I looked at the funding ratio and made a list of the best, rather than the worst, to see how far down I would have to go to get to California:
1. 67% Wisconsin
2. 52% South Dakota
3. 50% North Carolina
4. 46% TN
5. 45% Delaware
6. 44% NY
7. 43% WA
8. 43% Idaho
9. 42% Maine
10. 42% FL
11. 41% Utah
12. 41% Iowa
13. 41% Georgia
14. 40% OR
15. 39% Texas
16. 39% Calif.
So while CA came out O.K. nationally in that parameter, the actual percentages do not particularly inspire confidence.
is this mixing municipal and state pensions? because those are two very different situations. Can't see the article, I'm blocked behind some aggressive security settings.
is this mixing municipal and state pensions? because those are two very different situations. Can't see the article, I'm blocked behind some aggressive security settings.
Thanks. Yes, the data are about as recent as you can get with a large study including all 50 states. We are all interested in our own state's situation, so I looked at the funding ratio and made a list of the best, rather than the worst, to see how far down I would have to go to get to California:
1. 67% Wisconsin
2. 52% South Dakota
3. 50% North Carolina
4. 46% TN
5. 45% Delaware
6. 44% NY
7. 43% WA
8. 43% Idaho
9. 42% Maine
10. 42% FL
11. 41% Utah
12. 41% Iowa
13. 41% Georgia
14. 40% OR
15. 39% Texas
16. 39% Calif.
So while CA came out O.K. nationally in that parameter, the actual percentages do not particularly inspire confidence.
Corporate pensions were at about 82% funding ratio for 1Q15.
The court overturned the COLA suspension back in June of 2014 saying workers had a right to COLA as part of their pensions....BUT....there has been no restoration of it yet as the court remanded the case to a lower court for review - of course this is a scam to prolong the hold up of the COLA return and to keep it in the quagmire of the legal system for as long as they can.
So....the actual COLA suspension decision was overturned/not upheld but the games continue.
Sorry, Lucky. You are referencing a lower court decision. Since that decision was issued, the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed that decision and ruled in favor of Christie.
This New York Times article is a wide-ranging review of recent court decisions on public pension cuts in several different states and cities. The results are contradictory. I find it hard to summarize the article beyond that; in this case I recommend reading the article.
They better not even think of cutting my pension that I'll receive in Oct. that the democrats have so generously provided!! Well, it'll never happen in CA...there's been a few cities that have gone bankrupt and it still hasn't happenned to the retirees of those cities....the pension Eurozone (think other agencies wtihin Calpers) subsidize those that go bankrupt in a pooling.
No worries! Now, where shall I spend my pension money this winter?? Bali? Thailand? Singapore? Both? Hawaii? Maybe all four.
Thanks. Yes, the data are about as recent as you can get with a large study including all 50 states. We are all interested in our own state's situation, so I looked at the funding ratio and made a list of the best, rather than the worst, to see how far down I would have to go to get to California:
1. 67% Wisconsin
2. 52% South Dakota
3. 50% North Carolina
4. 46% TN
5. 45% Delaware
6. 44% NY
7. 43% WA
8. 43% Idaho
9. 42% Maine
10. 42% FL
11. 41% Utah
12. 41% Iowa
13. 41% Georgia
14. 40% OR
15. 39% Texas
16. 39% Calif.
So while CA came out O.K. nationally in that parameter, the actual percentages do not particularly inspire confidence.
California already kicked the can down the road with PEPRA. Public Employee Pension Reform Act. LOL. Pensions are about 30% less for those that started after Jan. 1, 2013. No worries.
lenora- you are incorrect. The COLA issue was not overruled in the recent funding decision. It is exactly as luckyram posted.
Also the recent court decision allowing the governor to skip funding reiterated the previous decisions that the pensioners have non-forfeitable rights to their pensions and the terms.
I believe it was footnote #11
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