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Despite its name, the Reason Foundation cannot be trusted to provide accurate information regarding public pensions. This so-called “think tank” promotes a radical anti-government agenda that is openly hostile to public employees and their retirement security. They have also accepted…
Despite what you may think, public pension plans generated more than $277 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2016. That is the groundbreaking finding of a new report from the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS).…
Defined benefit pensions are the most secure form of retirement savings. This has been true for decades and is why cities and states have offered pensions to their public employees for more than a hundred years. Pensions also used to…
Last week we wrote about the various forms of legal protections that exist for public pensions in the United States. We noted that a majority of states (34) follow a contract rights approach to public pension benefits. One of the…
Teachers, firefighters, and other public employees in Colorado are members of PERA, the Public Employees Retirement Association. This public pension plan covers most public employees in the state. It is also a Social Security substitute: most members of PERA do…
Public pension plans are authorized by the municipal or state government that offers the plan to its public employees. This means there is a wide range of variation about the specifics of public pensions from state to state. With thousands…
The attacks on public pension plans are constantly changing. Pension critics claim public employees need to be given a choice between defined benefit pension plans and 401(k)-style defined contribution plans. This is an unnecessary and risky choice. Public employees, like…
Pew Charitable Trusts is a respected institution studying many different aspects of American life. Legislators, civic leaders, and everyday Americans rely on Pew for objective, high-quality data and analysis on various issues. So why is one small division of Pew…
Today, thousands of workers and retirees rallied in Puerto Rico to protest ongoing austerity measures, including proposed cuts to public pensions. Puerto Rico’s public pensions have been threatened for years by the long-lasting debt crisis and other calamities to befall…
Retirement has long been a part of the American dream. Throughout the twentieth century, the belief was that after a lifetime of hard work, workers could retire and enjoy their golden years. When defined benefit pensions were still common in…
The financial crisis and Great Recession had a devastating effect on public pension plans. On average, public pension plans lost about a quarter of the value of their assets due to the crisis. In the years since the recession, almost…
Today is Tax Day. We thought this would be a good time to re-post a blog post from two years ago that answered the question: how many tax dollars go to public pensions? Taxpayer contributions to public pensions represent a…