Cities’ Retirement Costs to Surge as Pensions Take Market Beating – Bloomberg/MSN

Out of the 20 cities S&P had surveyed, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Chicago have the highest current pension costs, “though they have budgetary flexibility that we view as strong-to-very strong, which could help incorporate expected increasing annual costs following declining asset returns in 2022,” the analysts said.
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Doug
3 years ago

So when does Illinois and City of Chicago have to pay back the Federal Reserve handout loans they received that none of the Red states and munis received?

Old Joe
3 years ago

When NYC went broke in the 1970s, NYC pension plans were funded with NYC municipal bonds!

JimBob
3 years ago
Reply to  Old Joe

However and wherever we do it, it’s a wealth transfer from productive people and entities to unproductive people. Bond financing or putting bonds into a system are just varieties of kicking the can. We do it with Social Security and with military pensions and with exemption from income tax for pensions etc. Illinois in effect prints money by transferring bond “promises” to a system or going into the market to sell “pension bonds.” Adding COLA to the mix simply accelerates the resulting inflation, “Need-based” hardly works either based on simple fraud or political horse-trading or the unwritten laws of entitlement.… Read more »

Old Joe
3 years ago
Reply to  JimBob

JB, I feel that the US is headed for an inflationary crash similar to what happened to the German mark during the Weimar Republic.

Outstanding pension obligations we inflated to zero along with the currency which was then replaced with a new currency.

This scenario has never happened within the memory of any living citizen but it did happen to holders of Confederate currency.

Johb and Jane Doe are about to learn a painful lesson about trusting politicians with their life savings, pensions, social security and real estate.

JimBob
3 years ago
Reply to  Old Joe

Something similar happened in the former USSR countries when the ruble was devalued and people lost their life savings. Numerous pension promises were made to heroes of Stalingrad or others injured during World War 2. Double and triple social security benefits were handed out widely. Former subordinate states agreed to take over those pensions when those states were “set free” and there was no “real” money to pay what had been promised.

I won’t be surprised when this happens but I can’t figure out any way to hedge against it. Fewer and fewer places to hide!

Old Joe
3 years ago
Reply to  JimBob

JB, keep on stacking and pray that you don’t ever need it.

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