Posts Tagged: reason

Forget naysayers: Public pension funds doing fine

A photo illustration of putting money aside as the clock ticks. (Image: Cozine, via Shutterstock)

by DAVE LOW posted 10.16.2018

OPINION:   Another round of alarmist commentary is being spread by those who begrudge a secure retirement for those who teach in our classrooms or heroically labor on the front lines of wildfires.  Amidst their negativity Californians may have missed a bit of positive news last month. The state’s two largest pension funds reported end-of-year investment returns that again exceeded their assumed average annual rate of return.

California’s boldest pension reform, five years in

Photo illustration of a nest egg. (Photo: Hidesy, via Shutterstock)

by ED MENDEL posted 06.19.2017

If you don’t give city employees a pension, what happens? San Diegans voted five years ago this month to switch all new city hires, except police, from pensions to 401(k)-style individual investment plans, becoming one of the first big cities to take the plunge.

The leaders of two local pension reforms, former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, are working with a coalition on a statewide initiative to help local governments make cost-cutting pension reforms. During a break at the Reason Foundation’s third annual Pension Summit in Sacramento last week, the two men said they are “on the same page” and working with a coalition on the details of a proposed initiative for the November 2016 state ballot.

OPINION: Sadly as we witness the Affordable Care Act unfold, we’re seeing the exact opposite. We’re finding “mom and pop” small businesses – indeed, our leading job creators – not just marginalized, but much of the time left out of the discussion altogether.