What do Seattle, RI pension plans have in common?
Seattle, like Rhode Island, sunk a healthy chunk of its pension investment into hedge funds. And here’s hoping the Ocean State’s 14 percent foray into these riskier alternative investments works out better than the 8 percent gamble did for the Emerald City. From Sunday’s Seattle Times: Shorn of its complexity, the story reads like a [...]
Elizabeth Warren: pensions for middle class workers
Are pensions coming back into fashion? Perhaps, said progressive hero Senator Elizabeth Warren who was in Providence last night at a fundraiser at the Convention Center for her Senate Banking Committee colleague Jack Reed. Hailed as one of Wall Street’s worst nightmares and the intellectual godmother of Occupy Wall Street, Warren told me that public [...]
Some Year-End Reading for Progressive Policy Geeks
This time of year folks compile their year-end reading lists; so as we head into the holiday week, with pension debates and fiscal cliffs waiting for us on the other side of the calendar, I wanted to offer some suggestions: The first is a just released paper from Steven M. Teles, Associate Professor of Political [...]
Blame Gina Raimondo? Not So Fast, Progressives
Regular readers of the blog know that Treasurer Raimondo has become a lightening-rod for criticism of the state’s recent changes to the public employee pension system. As a tactic, I’ll admit it’s a good one, simultaneously riling up the base and drawing media attention to the union and retiree’s position. It’s also the first salvo [...]
Judges, Judicial Pensions and Judicial Impartiality
Can someone with a pension be an objective judge of whether it’s ok to cut someone else’s pension? The state is making an argument that Judge Sarah Taft-Carter is compromised and can’t consider issues concerning the 2011 state pension overhaul because her son and mother receive checks from the state system. Seems worth reviewing the [...]
Stark Contrast Between City, State Pension Efforts
It’s striking the difference in how efforts to cut public sector pension benefits are playing out in Providence compared to the state level – as municipal retirees are agreeing to a compromise in the Capital City, state retirees are gearing up for a legal fight in court. About 80 percent of Providence retirees voted in [...]
RI Progress Report: Providence Pensions, Family Guy, Taxes
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent revelations in the struggle over pension reform in Providence but unions there would do well to recall Bob Flander’s now-famous advice of a haircut being better than a beheading. Let’s assume labor is right when it assumes a judge would invalidate the proposed (though possibly morphing) [...]
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