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On Tuesday, we wrote about a new case study examining the experiences of Palm Beach, FL after the town closed its defined benefit pension plan for police officers, firefighters, and other municipal employees. Palm Beach is certainly not the only…
In 2012, Palm Beach, Florida decided to close all of its public pension plans and move current and future employees to a hybrid defined benefit-defined contribution plan. This move gutted retirement security for public employees. In response, Palm Beach experienced…
By now, the story of public pensions in Kentucky has become a familiar one: after years of underfunding by the state government, the public pension plans in the Bluegrass State are among the most poorly funded in the nation. Last…
Public pension plans continued to improve and strengthen their funded status last year. That is the takeaway from a new report by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS). With many plans earning double-digit investment returns, pension plans…
Tonight, President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to Congress. It is unlikely that he will mention pensions for federal employees in his speech, but in the weeks ahead, the president will propose his budget for…
Since the Great Recession in 2008, warnings of an impending pension crisis have been splashed across the business pages of newspapers across the country. Despite these boisterous decrees, America’s public pension funds are stable. We explore the roots behind the…
A Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is an occasional increase in the amount of a retiree’s or beneficiary’s pension payment in order to account for inflation. COLAs have been much discussed recently, in part because it has been so long…
Many times on this blog we’ve discussed the shift from defined benefit pensions to 401(k)-style defined contribution plans. While this transition has been most dramatic in the private sector, it is also occurring in the public sector. We’ve detailed how…
Today, Phil Murphy will be inaugurated as the new governor of New Jersey. That also means that Chris Christie’s two terms as governor are ending. Christie leaves office as the most unpopular governor in the history of New Jersey. Given…
It’s been 40 years since Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1978. Why is this obscure piece of legislation significant? Because the Revenue Act created Section 401(k) of the federal tax code. Over the past 40 years, the 401(k) provision…
Much has been written in recent years about the influence of so-called “dark money” in American politics. Whether it is the Koch Brothers and their extensive network or mysterious Super-PACs that seem to pop up each election cycle, the influence…
Two days before Christmas, the Washington Post published a powerful article warning of a frightening future: a United States without pensions. The Post story highlights the plight of former employees of a McDonnell Douglas plant in Tulsa, OK. These employees…