Stuff in the ‘Pension and Benefit Crisis’ Category
Gov. Murphy: “Labor is at the table in New Jersey unlike any other state in America, and that will always continue to be the case.”
Posted On10/06/2020 byWell, there you have it from an excellent report by NJ101.5: a perfect, one-sentence description of NJ’s political status quo, delivered by our state’s top elected officer. Gov. Murphy was elected with the strenuous support of the public sector unions – a.k.a, our most powerful special interests – and continues to work hand-in-hand with them…Read More
COVID Hits NJ Pensions: Investments Earn 1.2%, Teachers’ Pension Funding Likely Down to 25%
Posted On10/01/2020 byThe Star-Ledger reported that NJ’s pension investments earned 1.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. This is far below the 7.5% assumed return and given that NJ pensions are cash-flow negative, it is highly likely that assets had to be used to pay out pension benefits. It is also highly likely that as…Read More
NJ Debt Worst in America (Again), but Gov. Murphy Is Borrowing $4.5 billion More
Posted On09/23/2020 byTruth in Accounting came out with its “Financial State of the States 2020,” an annual report on how much debt-per-taxpayer each state owes. New Jersey once again ranked DEAD LAST in the nation for the SEVENTH STRAIGHT YEAR. Each NJ taxpayer owes a jaw-dropping $57,900 – which is $5,900 more than broke Illinois, the state…Read More
NJ to Borrow $4.5 billion to Make $4.7 billion Pension Payment: NJ Taxpayers on the Hook
Posted On09/22/2020 byAccording to the Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s FY2021 budget will borrow $4.5 billion in bonds. That’s more than 10% of the entire budget. Where is NJ going to get the money to plug the budget gap next year? I guess we should hope that economy does really well – despite the additional taxes on millionaires, corporations…Read More
Gov. Murphy, Using Bonds to Pay Down Pension Debt Is Essentially Another POB Deal
Posted On09/15/2020 byJon Reitmeyer of NJSpotlight writes that State Treasury officials support the idea of issuing $4 billion in bonds so the State can make a $4.9 billion pension contribution ($4.2 billion of which is making up for past pension underfunding). The idea is apparently that the State can borrow at 2% (at an annual cost of…Read More
NJBIA’s Siekerka Is on Target: Gov. Murphy’s $4.9 billion for Pensions Is Throwing Good Money after Bad
Posted On09/04/2020 byNew Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) president Michelle Siekerka penned an op-ed in NJ Spotlight today that made several excellent points. Among them: Cut the fiscal year 2021 public employee pension contribution: “we should remind ourselves that whatever dollar figure is settled on will still go toward a broken and unsustainable system, which will…Read More
The NJEA Hits the Trifecta with Murphy’s Budget; the Rest of NJ, Not So Much
Posted On08/26/2020 byGovernor Murphy presented a nine-month FY2021 budget yesterday that props up state government spending by issuing bonds and raising taxes. As analyzed by NJ Spotlight’s Jon Reitmeyer, there is virtually no state government belt-tightening: state spending will “still top $40 billion for a traditional 12-month fiscal year … even as he is projecting steep revenue…Read More
Murphy Wins at Supreme Court but NJ’s Future Generations Lose
Posted On08/14/2020 byCongratulations, Governor Murphy. Unsurprisingly, the NJ Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that you get to borrow up to $9.9 billion to cover budget gaps due to shortfalls and costs related to COVID19. This is good news for NJ’s most powerful special interests, the public sector unions, who are Murphy’s political supporters. Unfortunately, this is bad news…Read More
New BEA Analysis Confirms NJ Public Pensions as Worst-Funded in Nation
Posted On07/24/2020 byAnd this was before COVID19 hit. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis did a laudable analysis of defined benefit pension plans across the country. BEA used a constant set of methods and assumptions so that in looking at the various plans, BEA was comparing apples to apples. Importantly, BEA used a 4% discount rate for…Read More
Worrisome Sign: Pension Assets Drop to $75 Billion, Funded Ratio to 35 Percent
Posted On07/23/2020 byNJ’s Division of Investment provided an update on pension assets. As of April 30, the assets had dropped to $75 billion from $81 billion, or -8.1%, due to the decrease in the market value of the investments. With the system’s liabilities at $212 billion, this means that the funded ratio dropped from 38.4 % to…Read More