By: Mark Glennon*
If you have a serious interest in how our public pension crisis arose and continues to grow, invest 40 minutes watching the video linked here. It’s a recent presentation by Jeremy Gold, a nationally prominent independent actuary who has been speaking up boldly about his profession’s failure. His slides are linked here. “I’m here to tell you a story about how a profession failed to fulfill its duties to the public and thus enabled and abetted the very real crisis in public pension plans,” he starts out.
It’s all there — all the things we’ve been saying constantly on this site — how pension obligations are understated, why actuaries do it, why politicians like it, why pensions are “intergenerational theft,” why the public has been duped and why the official numbers reported by the media are junk.
It’s mostly in plain English, though a couple parts get a little wonky. If you have an Intro to Finance sort of background, you’ll understand.
Watch the questions and answers at the end, too, which are excellent.
*Mark Glennon is founder of WirePoints. Opinions expressed are his own.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Excellent piece A little long for most people but kudos to Mr. Gold for speaking so bluntly. Now where are the articles by a bond counsel, rating agency exec, and a CPA. they all could be lumped together.