Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

[vt]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

Yes, and both parties are beholden to the Mob! We should vote them all out by preparing for the 2016 election with a strong, organized independent party that is fiscally conservative and socially moderate. A party that accepts no lobbying dollars from the government/banking coalition or the government/union coalition. The left and right are both totally corrupt.

Reelecting Obama won't solve a thing; it'll only make it worse. Romney may not be much better, but at least we don't have a right wing choice like Gingrich or Santorum.

It's too late for 2012, but the 2014 congressional elections give us ample time to prepare. The 2013 recession EJ envisions may be enough for the rest of the country to wake up.

[lektrode]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

methinks we ought to draft bernie sanders....
he seems to be about the only one who gets it and is willing to put up and NOT SHUT UP

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

guess bernie madoff was the sacrificial lamb/patsy for/so all the big boys could skate, eh?
and nobody in the 4th estate (cept fer matt taibbi, 60mins, frontline, INSIDE JOB) has had much to say about it?

and some wonder why i'm biased...
at least the enron and worldcom thieves went to jail.

I'm not sure if you're talking about bias as in Republican/Democrat or something else. However, it should be noted that in the Enron scam (don't know about Worldcom), no one from Wall Street went to prison despite the fact that Wall Street was complicit in helping Enron perpetrate its fraud.

The key difference is this: Enron, Worldcom, Bernie Madoff, Allen Stanford, et al. were not and are not members of The Club. Thus, when they got caught, they went to prison. One of the key benefits of membership appears to be a "Don't Get Indicted, Don't Go To Prison" card that is valid regardless of which of the two political parties is in power.

[lektrode]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

generally speaking, mr K - nice to see you BTW - i am biased _against_ more of the same from the beltway bozos, on both sides of the aisle, who continue to SPEND with abandon in an effort to curry favor with those that think the money the political aristocracy apparently thinks grows on trees, is somehow Theirs for the spending.

i am also biased against the opinions of those who think that all we need to do is blow another trillion of borrowed money and we'll be livin in fat city - just give us MORE and we'll fix all the problems, they keep telling us - for MORE THAN 50 YEARS now, we have been listening to this and hows that one go? - those that forget history are doomed to repeat it - or maybe a better one: repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of what?

when a state like NH, that has proven the 'more gov spending' crowd FULL OF S__T for more than 300years now,
i am most certainly BIASED AGAINST more of the same from the beltway and their primary apologists.

other than that, i really dont have much of an opinion...

signed
a 3rd party-wannabe voter

[don]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

some up todate numbers from one of the biggest pension funds . . .

Press Release

July 16, 2012

External Affairs Branch
(916) 795-3991
Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer
Brad Pacheco, Chief, Office of Public Affairs
Contact: Amy Norris, Information Officer
pressroom@calpers.ca.gov
CalPERS Reports Preliminary 2011-12 Fiscal Year Performance of 1 Percent

Real estate portfolio earns nearly 16 percent exceeding benchmark

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today reported a 1 percent return on investments for the 12 months that ended June 30, 2012, falling short of its benchmark that returned 1.7 percent. CalPERS assets at the end of the fiscal year stood at more than $233 billion.

The small gain – despite continued volatility in world markets and economies – was helped by improved performance of CalPERS real estate investments. Investments in income-generating properties like office, industrial and retail assets returned approximately 15.9 percent, outperforming the pension fund’s real estate benchmark by more than 3 percent.

CalPERS performance was negatively impacted by significant allocations to U.S. and international public equities.

“The last twelve months were a challenging period for all investors as the ongoing European debt crisis and slowing global economic growth increased market volatility and reduced equity returns,” said Joe Dear, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer. “It’s a clear reminder that we must remain focused on performance, risk and internal controls in today’s financial environment.”

CalPERS 1 percent return is below the fund’s discount rate of 7.5 percent, a long-term hurdle lowered recently in response to a steady decline in inflation and as part of CalPERS routine evaluation of economic assumptions. CalPERS 20-year investment return is 7.7 percent.

“It’s important to remember that CalPERS is a long-term investor and one year of performance should not be interpreted as a signal about our ability to achieve our investment goals over the long-term,” said Henry Jones, Chair of CalPERS Investment Committee.

Today’s announcement includes asset class performance gains as follows:

-7.2%
5.4%
12.7%
15.9%
-11.0%
8.4%
4.6%
0.1%
-2.0%

Returns for real estate, private equity and some components of the inflation assets reflect market values through March 31, 2012 (not June 30, 2012). Final performance including the last quarter of the fiscal year will be available after asset valuations are completed.

Investment returns are based on compounded daily earnings over the year, including continuing member contributions and benefit payments, and do not precisely correspond to one-year changes in CalPERS overall portfolio market value.

Employer contribution rates that use CalPERS 2011-12 fiscal year investment performance will be calculated based on audited figures and will be reflected in contribution levels for the State of California in FY 2013-14 and for contracting cities, counties and special districts in FY 2014-15.

CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the U.S. It administers retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million California State, local government, and public school employees, retirees, and their families on behalf of more than 3,000 public employers, and health benefits for more than 1.3 million enrollees. The average CalPERS pension benefit is $2,332 per month. The average benefit for those who retired in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, is $3,065 per month.

[don]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

Morgan Stanley Charts . . .

The can has been kicked. The austerity has been implemented. The revenues have fallen. And as we see in the chart below, the pace of local government distress is accelerating. As has been made so clear in the past, defaults cluster; and sure enough it is starting, as tensions between unions and city managers become irreconcilable.

The pace of local government distress is accelerating...

Meanwhile budget gaps are increasingly in need of political solutions...

But the 'fiscal cliff' hinders any reality of a solution coming from the top...

Comments are by ZeroHedge . . . .

[don]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

through the magic of ZIRP . . .

The public pension and retirement 'schemes' are in considerable trouble and now, according to a recent S&P study, private companies are at record levels of pension under-funding. Fiscal 2011 shows that the under-funded level for S&P 500 companies' defined pensions reached an epic $354.7 billion - an increase of over $100 billion from 2010 and surpassing the 2008 record of $308.4 billion - and OPEB under-funding reached $223.4 billion. An aggregate $578 billion or 29.5% underfunding or the $1.96 trillion in obligations is increasing as the rates of return are reduced thanks to yet more 'unintended' consequences of the Fed's ZIRP and perhaps most worrying is there comment that "The American dream of a golden retirement for baby boomers is quickly dissipating; plans have been reduced and the burden shifted with future retirees needing to save more for their retirement. For many baby-boomers it may already be too late to safely build-up assets, outside of working longer or living more frugally in retirement."

[BadJuju]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

I am a relatively young gentleman, so my entire life has been shaped around the idea that retirement will come entirely at my own expense. It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea of a corporate or government funded pension. It has always been a foreign concept to me. And whenever I hear older people, which are always the ones that talk about how important they are, I think it is kind of crazy to rest all of one's eggs in such a fair weather friend. I am surely not the only one of my generation to view pensions as laughable. I hate, hate what has happened to good people at the hands of those that should have looked out for them. At the same time, I pity their naivety. And I wonder what will happen to them. I intend upon taking care of my parents, which will be easy for me since I won't have kids and live a frugal life. But then I think of all the people sandwiched between their parents and their kids and their own problems. How will they cope? How will the older generation that were sold out cope? I am young. I can adapt.

[bill]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...m3r1a74e9.html

Budget cuts in Washington may put added pressure on state governments already strained by employee pensions and rising health-care costs, according to a report by a group led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Grants/20...ask-Force.aspx
July 17, 2012
T
he State Budget Crisis Task Force, led by former New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, today released the first-ever comprehensive report detailing threats to states' fiscal sustainability and actions that can be taken to address them. The report focuses on the fiscal conditions in six heavily populated states — California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Virginia — which together account for a third of the nation's population and almost 40 cents of every dollar in spending by state and local governments."While the extent of the fiscal challenge varies significantly from state to state, there can be no doubt that the magnitude of the problem is great and extends beyond the impact of the financial crisis and the lingering recession," said Ravitch. "The conclusion of the Task Force is unambiguous: the existing trajectory of state spending, taxation, and administrative practices cannot be sustained. The basic problem is not cyclical, it is structural. The time to act is now."
Among the six states highlighted in the report, a common set of major threats to sustainability were identified:

• Medicaid spending growth is crowding out other needs
• Federal deficit reduction threatens state economies and budgets
• Underfunded retirement promises create risks for future budgets
• Narrow, eroding tax bases and volatile tax revenues undermine state finances
• Local government fiscal stress poses challenges for states
• State budget laws and practices hinder fiscal stability and mask imbalances

"Our essential goal is to inform the public of the gravity of the issues and the consequences of continuing to postpone actions to achieve structural balance," said Volcker. "Only an informed public can demand that the political systems, federal, state and local, recognize these problems and take effective action. The costs, whether in service reductions or higher revenues, will be large. Deferring action can only make the ultimate costs even greater."


In the report, the Task Force provides recommendations for states to make changes to their procedural approaches, including: improving the quality and utility of financial reporting; adopting multi-year approaches to planning and budgeting; better use of counter-cyclical tools such as rainy day funds; clear disclosure of obligations for pension and other post-employment benefits; improved mechanisms for dealing with local fiscal stress; examining tax systems to improve their adequacy and predictability; and re-examining the fiscal relationship between states and the federal government.
The State Budget Crisis Task Force report is the result of a year of in-depth analysis into the magnitude of fiscal challenges facing state and local governments. The Task Force concluded that many challenges to sustainability are shared by state and local governments across the country. The major findings included:

• Medicaid spending is far outpacing revenue growth. Based on recent rates, the gap could widen by $23 billion within 5 years.
• Federal deficit reduction efforts will hit states hard. For example, a 10 percent cut in grants would cost California and New York, each, more than $6 billion annually.
• Pension liabilities in California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia are underfunded by more than $385 billion, and retiree health benefit promises by more than $500 billion.
• State tax revenue is eroding and increasingly volatile. For example, in New Jersey income tax revenue grew 32 percent from 2005 to 2008, then declined by 16 percent from 2008 to 2011.
• Many local governments face increasing fiscal problems. This is particularly true in California, where sharp declines in property tax revenue, increases in pension costs, and state aid cuts have contributed to severe fiscal stress — local governments in other states face problems as well.
• States do not have proper tools to address these problems: their finances are opaque; they do not prepare multi-year financial plans, fully fund the costs of current services, or fully disclose longer term liabilities. They do not have adequate rainy day funds and their budgeting approaches encourage them to patch budget gaps with temporary resources.

Ravitch and Volcker assembled the Task Force in June 2011 after identifying their mutual growing concern over persistent structural imbalance in state budgets and the continued ability of states to provide basic services, invest for the future and provide for those in need, at a cost taxpayers will support. State and local governments spend $2.5 trillion annually and employ over 19 million workers — 15 percent of the national workforce and six times as many workers as the federal government.
The Task Force is comprised of a professional staff that collaborated over the past year to conduct research, identify challenges and develop the report. The Task Force is led by an Advisory Board that includes the following individuals: Richard Ravitch, Paul Volcker, Nicholas F. Brady, Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Phillip L. Clay, David Crane, Peter Goldmark, Richard P. Nathan, Alice M. Rivlin, Marc V. Shaw, and George P. Shultz.
The work of the Task Force was made possible by funding from a number of foundations and organizations including: The Community Foundation of New Jersey, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, The Fund for New Jersey, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Open Society Foundations, The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as those wishing to remain anonymous.

More information, including the official Report of the State Budget Crisis Task Force, is available at
www.statebudgetcrisis.org

http://www.statebudgetcrisis.org/wpc...Force-Full.pdf

[doom&gloom]

Re: Scranton Mayor Cuts All Municipal Employees Down to Minimum Wage

Medicaid -- Feds stuffing it down to the states
Fed deficit reduction -- feds further stuffing it down to the states after tuffing thm the first time
Underfunded retirements -- states stuffing it down to the voters
Eroding tax bases -- too much spending getting stuffed to the state by business and taxpayers
Local gov fiscal stress -- stet govt stuffing it down on local govt as the money runs dry
State budget practices -- states stuffing themselves thru cronyism, uniionism, and poor governmance

In most cases, what you see above is Federal mandates sticking it to everyone down the libe coupled with state belief that the money would keep flowing from all sources.

Surprise, reality strikes.