California pension fund loss: $56.8 billion
The Taxinator may be breathing a sigh of relief over “fixing” California’s budget problems.
But darker clouds loom.
California’s huge government pension fund is expected to report today a whopping annual loss of an estimated $56.8 billion, almost a quarter of its investment portfolio.
The loss at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for the fiscal year ended June 30 is the second in a row for the country’s largest fund. A year ago, CalPERS reported an $8.5-billion loss, as the severe recession began to take hold.
The tremendous drop in value is expected to have a direct effect on the amount of money that the state and about 2,000 local governments and school districts must contribute in coming years to pay for pensions and healthcare for 1.6 million government workers, retirees and their families.
As income from the pension investments fall, the governments would have to make up the difference to meet the state’s pension and healthcare obligations.
And as California goes, so goes the nation.
Flashback: The Pension Fund Problem to Come
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BAILOUT!!!!
They say illegal aliens use up 10B/year in government services. The simple solutions are always the best.
Enforce immigration law and the problem won’t be as bad.
Looking down the road even if Arnold is replaced his shoes will be filled with someone worse. Oh how I miss the Reagan years…..
Have you gone Airborne on us?
My serious response is, I think you are right. They will come hat in hand looking to be saved from their incompetence.
Roll it into Social Security, give the pensioners 2% bonds and let Little Timmy Geitner tell them how they can be satisfied with less-grow your own food in a window box. Contracts, debts and obligations took one BIG hit with the denigration of GM and Chrysler bonds. It IS all part of the Hope and Change we were promised.
Now WE have to live smaller and not heat and cool our homes so much–only Important people such as Little Timmy Geitner and the Chicago ShuckMeister get to own really BIG homes.
Fell better? I do feel terrible for the California retirees–but the whole country is headed down that road.
Bye Bye, Buy Obama Bonds. It is hot and raining in Phoenix-must contact ManBearPig immediately!
Oh, I’m sure they’ll raise income taxes AGAIN to make up for the shortfall for their lavish lifestyle pensions. I am outa here…
Don’t they have a lot of illegals to exploit?
Whaddya mean they don’t have money?!
RACIST! Besides when those “undocumented guest workers” are rolled into ObamaCare everything will be free!
The Good Ship Lollipop is boarding now.
So let me get this straight.
The marxists in the People’s Socialist Quagmire of California are “excreting red blocks” because their investments are losing money?
I thought they were socialists? Don’t these teachers tell their students that corporations and profits are EE-vil?
Oh, I understand. Chevron/Texaco is an evil oil company that gouges consumers with high prices and pollutes the air with carbon by-products. Except when they make money for investments by CalPERS!
Just watch how rabid the socialst CalPERS members are in defense of their profits and investments. Karl would be ashamed.
Yep so goes California so goes the country….they want us to adopt politics California style, and look how well that turned out for California. I remember the Tea Party Crowds in California, the photos, it was comforting to know many Californians get it.
California’s credit rating is going into the toilet as well.
I love these guys. Do everything you can to tank the economy and them complain that your investment income has disappeared.
Real good, Dems. Sit on the limb and saw it off, while complaining you are 20 feet off the ground.
Their understanding of economics is just laughable.
California is the first in a line of 50 dominos.
More of the Dems’ chickens coming home to roost. It never occurred to them when they were destroying GM, Chrysler, Citigroup and the rest of the financial world that their own pension funds were heavily invested in blue chips. Hard to feel sorry for them.
my 401 and investments lost more than 25% this last year, where’s my bailout?
This budget is “fixed” mostly with more borrowing (unspecified) and stealing money from the cities who will have to do the actual cutting.
And to discuss the unfunded government pension liabilities is expressly forbidden and that is not a joke. They are not allowed to discuss it. Kind of the Glass-Steagall Act and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. We are looking for “solutions” (wink, wink…big global government…wink, wink) not SOLUTIONS.
It’s okay. I expect Michael Steele to come out soon and make another of his stirring, inspiring speeches any minute now.
CA: loser lawmakers from a loser state fed upon by loser libs. Maybe NOW that CalPERS is predictably going bankrupt, the state will actually RECONSIDER the 80% to 90% retirement salaries and the full health benefits for their pensioners.
Ever hear of ANYONE in the private sector receiving 80% to 90% of their salary during retirement for the REST OF THEIR LIFE?
Get back to work honkey or the ShuckMeister will take action. (unless you are an illegal alien-felon or Media Maven-are you one of those?)
Shouldn’t California be swimming in budget surpluses? After all, we’ve been hearing about the economic benefit of illegal immigrants and that they pay more in taxes than they draw out. Must be the fault of all those greedy businesses and people with jobs fleeing. Time to build a wall to keep them in!
Only to a bunch of idiot liberals does cutting spending by $15B close a $26B deficit.
I can’t wait to see my landlord’s face when I tell him I’ll give him IOUs with 3% interest which I’ll book against next year’s income (which I’m sure will grow by at last 8%) after accounting for the 15 furlough days I’ll make my undocumented pool boy take.
no arizona, i’m just a po woykin stiff. calpers is impotent, i is not. i just sent out another 2750 dollar check to the irs for my 2007 tax return which they claim i made a mistake on, so i’m expecting the 2008 audit result any day now looking for mo money. the well is drying up so the gubmint has to keep tapping the same vein until it collapses. heaven forbid they should actually have to lay off some of those department of redundancy department employees.
denver; lol. right on point also.
You guys ain’t seen nothing yet. San Diego went through this some years back when they had to account for their pensioners. Seems they found quite a few pension checks going to dead people (that had been cashed!!) Then said they would not be able to find the money. If I remember correctly, Schwarzeneggar saying he was going to fly to San Diego and fire the mayor. Wonder if he will volunteer to take the heat when they audit the pension fund in Sacramento. Can’t wait to see this on the state level (however they will probably not show anyone the books)…. Chicago thug in the White House with Sacramento style books. NICE!!!!
Off topic but important enough to mention, Bernanke is giving uncharacteristically incoherent (for him) testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee (Barney Frank). Well worth watching. He still sees “green shoots” of economic recovery, yet sees no need to tighten interest rates in the foreseeable future but will be ready to address inflation when it show up.
They are asking the wrong question. It’s not about inflation so much as it is about stagflation. We are already seeing signs of that.
Shouldn’t these socialist in CA be putting retirees in state run communes? Why do they need to worry about the financial up or down of any retirement program?
And now you know the real reason Obama is pushing nationalized healthcare. The criteria they won’t come out and tell you is that once you reach retirement age there will be no healthcare.
The quicker you die, the less they have to pay out.
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The country seems to be following the President Jimmuh Carter (aka the worst president in my memory–until the Messiah knocks him into second place!) plan to perfection–stagflation coming soon.
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Meanwhile, Kalifornia keeps voting in these “democratic” / liberal / socialist / marxist / statist / communist clown politicians to keep raping their economy.
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However, the people are getting what they voted for–in spades. Don’t use the vast petroleum resources and have the tax income help out the state budget–Alaska style. Don’t build nuclear power plants–put up some windmills and solar panels. Don’t boot out the “undocumented immigrants”–aka ILLEGAL ALIENS–give them in state tuition rates. Don’t execute the murderers who have been on death row for 20+ years–get them more taxpayer funded legal help.
***
Kalifornia voters made their bed this way–may they lie in in and enjoy it to the max. And don’t even think about moving to my Texas–we don’t need Kali2 here.
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John Bibb
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Normally, I’m not of a conspiratorial mindset, but I’m beginning to think al-Qaeda is not Pakistan.
Rather, they’re in hiding in plain sight in Washington DC, and doing a fine job at fulfilling their objective!
Looks like Rush was right again!
They’ll just raise taxes on “The Rich” and say that “The Rich” shouldn’t be able to collect their fair share of the pension.
But, wait, “The Rich” are leaving Kalifornia, and taking their money with them.
Ships deserting the sinking rat, I suppose.
Participation in the CalPERS pension fund is not “optional,” or else I’d be putting that substantial percentage of my husband’s paycheck in the mattress. It’d be much safer there.
And, for those who are of the opinion that all people living in California are “socialist libtards” who deserve all the “bad” that’s coming down the pike, understand that there are a lot of us staunch conservatives here…just not enough to offset the “fool” vote.
The object of Obamacare is to ensure you just reach retirement age and perhaps just a little longer, if it can at all be helped, and your existance on this planet will be reviewed annually.
Once your use as a taxpayer has ended and you are beginning to suck up more in resources than you support, you’ll be encouraged to find your way out of this world, preferably on you own, but assistace will be available if need be!
“They can be used only for executive bonuses and junkets.”
I would love to see the total of tax payer money our politicians have spend on bonuses and junkets as compared to the amount of bail out money that has been spent in the private sector on the bonuses and junkets. Wonder which would be the larger expense of tax payer money?
oops. spent….
“there will be no healthcare.”
If you listen to Obama and his buds speak they seem to be trying to convince us we don’t have health care now….
What’s the problem? Sounds like CalPERS is doing about as well as the Feds did with my money in the great Social Security Ponzi Scheme.
I figure I will “invest” a minimum of $450,000 into Social Security and get back about $350,000 IF the government doesn’t kill me before I am 80…
I think Obamacare is about making sure the government doesn’t allow me to “break even” on my Social Security “investment.”