Depressing (But Important!) Website of the Day

It's Pension Tsumami! Which bums you out right there on the front page:

The purpose of this site is to provide an overview of the multiple pension crises that are about to drown America's taxpayers.

It's a project of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers, or FACT. The primary benefit of the site so far comes in its linking to more than a half dozen depressing pension pieces per day. Such as this Sacramento Bee editorial, which is yet another bit to bookmark next time some Golden State schmo starts badgering Washington for a bailout:

[T]op staffers in the state Assembly walked away from their jobs last month with richer pensions that are likely to cost taxpayers a bundle.

How much? No one knows. Neither the Department of Finance nor the Legislature's own budget staff analyzed the bill. Assembly officials who drafted the pension deal insist it will save money, but they refuse to release their fiscal analysis that shows how.

The deal provided two years of extra service credit to anyone who was at least 50 years old and had worked five years in the Assembly. For a 55-year-old Assembly employee with 30 years at the state, it added about $4,000 a year extra to retirement pay.

The Tsunami also links to this immediately valuable and depressing blog, called Pension Pulse, in which former pension fund analyst Leo Kolivakis tells us from Canada about the "Pension Pandemic" that will soon infect us all.

Tsunami link via Seeking Alpha, by way of Instapundit. And don't miss our cover story from February, Jon Entine's "The Next Catastrophe."

Comments

[SugarFree]

It's a project of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpers, or FACT.

Taxpayers.

I do this not to judge. Let he who is without typo cast the first keyboard.

[Matt Welch]

Thanks for the catch!

[domoarrigato]

more evidence of the insidious and pervasive dangers of general asset price deflation. Look for several trillion more in stimulative spending - and not this spending-lite stuff like expanding the feds balance sheet through repurchases and loan guarantees - I mean real ditch digging/filling in makework wasteful depression era spending. Odds are against the gov't monetizing the deficit to any degree with Geithner at treasury (though, I would argue they ought to at some point - after they borrow a few trill at 1.5%, of course). One bright spot is at least they aren't building any new houses...

[TMOF]

And we think the stimulus/spending packages are bad now ... wait until this shit hits the fan. We are so, so fucked.

[creech]

Let's just offer SWAT team members a double pension if they can find a way to keep other government employees from collecting theirs.

[YoungLiberal]

I, as a 10 year State employee, say thus:

"Suck it!"

[Marcvs]

As a 10 year State employee, I would guess that you are far enough from retirement that you should probably start looking for a job in the private sector.

[Episiarch]

I think I'm going to order a tin of 7.62x39 tonight. 700-1000 should do.

[Shannon Love]

The Public Pension debacle proves false the leftist faith that government manages asset more efficiently and justly than do private actors.

Governments are just as stupid and likely to be sucked into bubbles and frauds as private actors. They may be more likely to be so since they have less oversight and don't have to pay their own bills.

[jb]

"The Public Pension debacle proves false the leftist faith that government manages asset more efficiently and justly than do private actors."

Ah, as an academic who deals with that drivel everyday, I can tell you those people are much more concerned with the "justly" than the "efficiently" aspect. They could care less if *everyone* loses *everything* because that, they say, will only bring about a more equitable future for all.

It's hard to argue that if everyone has nothing, anyone is unequal.

[ed]

Socialism has a cumbersome new name: "We're-all-in-this-togetherism." When every American has a claim for a piece of that gigantic bailout pie, no one will be left to protest. It's the perfect way to destroy a republic. We all voted for it!

[Ken Shultz]

"The Public Pension debacle proves false the leftist faith that government manages asset more efficiently and justly than do private actors."

But they'll never admit it!

They'll just blame their shortfalls on bad investment decisions (hindsight's always 20/20) and the lack of regulation in the investment industry.

Giving away the farm has nothing to do with it.

[Todd]

Thanks for the headsup Reason folk! It was almost 3 years ago I was alerted to the existence of bubble blogs through Hit and Run. Now, you've alerted me to the next big thing. Great new coverage!

[Bob Smith]

I've heard San Diego is pretty much bankrupt right now and is trying to get out of the pension and health benefit increases is just negotiated. A number of CA state-level unions have also recently received huge pension benefit increases.

[ChrisO]

Not to be confused with the Fullerton Union of Concerned Taxpayers. Splitters!

[jtuf]

Of course, if government starts running healthcare, we'll see a sharp decline in pensioners.