...a schmuck on wheels...I LOVE THAT MOVIE! Then later he gets an ice pick in the back of the head during "White Room" when he sits in the car, right? But really, the government isn't a lot different and is actually worse. THEY WANT THE MONEY AND THEY WANT IT ALL WITH INTEREST NOW IN ONE LUMP SUM- NO F'N PARTIAL PAYMENT! At least with a loan shark, you can stave off getting broken kneecaps if you give him half now, with the GOVERNMENT- THEY TAKE YOUR F'N HOUSE NOW IF THEY DON'T GET IT ALLLLLLLLLLLL!
Judging from the primary results the voters are still schmucks on wheels. They understand the importance of re-electing DEM morons. One party never works.
Tom DiNapoli: GOP Rival's Pension Fund Plan Could Cost Taxpayers Billions
BY Ken Lovett
Harry Wilson . State Controller Thomas DiNapoli says Harry Wilson’s call to lower the state pension fund’s anticipated return on investment could cost taxpayers an additional $10.5 billion.
Wilson has been critical of DiNapoli's projection of an 8% rate of return on pension fund investments, saying the state hasn’t seen returns that good in more than a decade.
He says the actual projected number should be 5% or 6%, the same figure corporate America uses.
DiNapoli spokesman Dennis Tompkins says under the controller’s estimate, local governments will be on the hook for $3.6 billion in payments this year.
Lowering the anticipated rate of return to the 5% Wilson is pushing would increase that cost to $14.1 billion, he said.
Broken down, the contribution rates for the Employment Retirement System would more than quadruple while the rate for the Police and Fire Retirement system outside New York would increase by fivefold, Tompkins said.
“The out-year costs would grow exponentially,” Tompkins said, questioning how Wilson would plug the hole.
DiNapoli campaign spokesman Eric Sumberg called Wilson’s plan “a $10 billion tax increase for New York families.”
“It makes you wonder what he stands for besides helping his fellow Wall Street millionaires get even more rich,” Sumberg said. “His plan would drive up property taxes for households outside of New York City nearly $2,500 thi syear alone.”
“New Yorkers can’t afford the Wilson Tax, and they can’t afford ‘Wall Street Harry Wilson,’” Sumberg added.
Wilson has been ripping what he calls the “DiNapoli Tax”, which is a plan in the new budget to allow governments to delay payments to the pension fund for several years and then have them pay it back with interest down the road.
Told of DiNapoli’s office latest figures, Wilson accused the controller of “papering over” an existing problem that ultimately will cost taxpayers more.
“Changing the... rate doesn’t increase our pension liability,” Wilson said. “It only affects the extent you can hide them.”
He doesn’t deny that lowering the anticipated rate of return could cost governments more in the short-term, though he refused to buy into DiNapoli’s $10.5 billion figure.
“Local governments will be paying more money if we leave it at 8% and show poor returns as we have under DiNapoli,” one Wilson aide said. “The liability exists and with any deficit need, you need to address it somehow.”
Wilson and his aides said he wouldn’t recommend lowering the anticipated rate of return “until we work on reforms with the Legislature that will plug the gap”without the need for tax increases.
“Be honest about the size of the problem, decide on the right approach and then decide with the Legislature how to fill it,” Wilson said.
“They’re papering the hole with a phony accounting treatment,” he said of DiNapoli's office. “Be honest with the assessment and step away from this massive ponzi scheme.”
He suggests a 401K plan for new public employees, which he said would help “stop the bleeding.”
He also says DiNapoli relies on too many risky investments.
DiNapoli aides shot back that they are not “day traders," but long-term investors looking for the best performance.
Tompkins also accused Wilson of using “inaccurate and exaggerated” information to criticize DiNapoli’s “rate mitigation plan.”
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Public pension costs in New York are mushrooming—just when taxpayers can least afford it. Over the next five years, tax-funded annual contributions to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) will more than quadruple, while contributions to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) will more than double, according to estimates presented in this report. New York City’s budgeted pension costs, which already have increased tenfold in the past decade, will rise by at least 20 percent more in the next three years, according to the city’s financial plan projections.
NYSTRS and NYSLRS are “fully funded” by government actuarial standards, but we estimate they have combined funding shortfalls of $120 billion when their liabilities are measured using private-sector accounting rules. Based on a similar alternative standard, New York City’s pension funds had unfunded liabilities of $76 billion as of mid-2008—before their net asset values plunged in the wake of the financial crisis.
The run-up in pension costs threatens to divert scarce resources from essential public services during a time of extreme fiscal and economic stress for every level of government. New York needs to enact fundamental pension reform to permanently eliminate the risks and unpredictability inherent in the traditional pension system.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
New York State Pension $71 Billion Underfunded, Empire Center Report Says
Q By Michael Quint - Dec 7, 2010 10:28 AM ET .
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Print Email ... New York state’s $132.8 billion pension plan is underfunded by $71 billion and annual taxpayer payments to keep it sound may more than double to almost $4 billion during the next five years, a report says.
Increased payments are needed by the third-largest U.S. public pension to recover from a 26 percent decline in assets in the year ended March 31, 2009, and to cover benefits lawmakers increased over the past decade, the Empire Center for New York State Policy said.
“The traditional pension system exposes taxpayers to intolerable levels of financial risk and volatility,” said the Albany-based center, a project of the Manhattan Institute, which opposes taxes and promotes outsourcing to private companies and reduced spending.
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli described the fund as strong during his election campaign.
The pension is fully funded, even though the market value of investments is less than needed to pay all benefits because assets “include the current value of all future contributions employers and employees will make,” its annual report says.
The center recommended that risk be passed to employees with a new pension system that consists wholly or partly of accounts like 401(k) retirement plans used in businesses, with government contributions set at a fixed rate rather than rising or falling with investment results.
Rich Retirement
Most taxpayers “will never receive anything approaching the costly, guaranteed benefits available to public employees,” the Empire Center’s report said. An annuity to provide the same benefit as the median $47,000 pension of a New York teacher would cost $860,000, it said.
New York state, New York City and other local governments have more than $200 billion of unfunded liabilities for retired- worker health coverage in addition to pension benefits owed, the report said. Health benefits in retirement are promised in existing labor contracts. The state constitution bars reductions in pension benefits from what a worker was promised when hired.
DiNapoli announced in September a 37 percent increase in government contributions due to the plan in February 2012 to 16.3 percent of payroll from 11.9 percent. The Division of Budget estimated that contribution rates may rise to 24 percent of payroll by the fiscal year ending in 2014.
The Empire Center report said the 7.5 percent assumed rate of return on pension investments is too high and that the practice of measuring pension liabilities and investments with a moving five-year average was a “gimmick.”
Reasonable Rate
The actuary for the state plan said the 7.5 percent assumed rate of return is reasonable in light of the plan’s 30-year investment horizon and because the state government is a longer- term enterprise than a private enterprises.
Over the past 30 years, the fund’s investments gained an average of 10.1 percent annually, though that fell to 3.7 percent the past 10 years, the actuary report says.
Using five-year averages instead of market values is intended “to reduce volatility on contribution rates,” the report says.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
But the total cost of the corruption is hard to quantify.
For instance, it’s virtually impossible to tell whether the corruption led to qualitatively worse investments than occurred in more transparent systems in other states. That’s because the corruption centered around a notoriously opaque part of the business world, called private equity, where companies have virtually no public reporting requirements and investments are expected to take up to ten years to pay off.
The investigation continues into other firms and individuals suspected of involvement in the bribery scheme.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
Judging from the primary results the voters are still schmucks on wheels. They understand the importance of re-electing DEM morons. One party never works. 
