Regulation

Pennsylvania school employees pension costs to quadruple in 4 years

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 12, 2008

The Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) at their meeting today certified a small increase in the employers’ (re: taxpayers) contribution rate – from the current 4.76% to…

Media

Read More: Pennsylvania school employees pension costs to quadruple in 4 years

Regulation

Pension Pain

  • December 2, 2008

Cross Posted at Capitol Domes The stock market’s steep decline is a source of angst for all those whose retirement account balances have taken a nosedive. The financial…

Media

Read More: Pension Pain

Regulation

No Extra Money in the Fund

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • May 20, 2008

"There is no extra money in the fund" for a pension Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA). That’s the analysis from the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS), not the Commonwealth Foundation…

Commentary

Read More: No Extra Money in the Fund

Health Care

The Pension and Healthcare Non-Crisis

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • January 29, 2007

Despite the well-documented unfunded liabilities in Pennsylvania’s largest public employee pension plans (PSERS and SERS), the response from Harrisburg to the coming fiscal crisis ranges from denial to paralysis. Following…

Commentary

Read More: The Pension and Healthcare Non-Crisis

Regulation

Getting Out of the Pension Dilemma

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • October 4, 2006

(Editors Note: This Commentary was originally published on March 8, 2006) Pennsylvania’s public employee pension plans are facing a looming financial crisis. Regardless of how one looks at the current…

Commentary

Read More: Getting Out of the Pension Dilemma

Regulation

Pennsylvania Pensions: Man-Made Financial Disasters

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • March 7, 2006

The “Process Improvement Theory” relates to the timing in a process when errors are diagnosed and fixed. As the theory goes, at each ensuing interval in which a problem is…

Commentary

Read More: Pennsylvania Pensions: Man-Made Financial Disasters

Regulation

State employees’ pensions might carry big price tag

  • March 6, 2006

“Might”? Whoever wrote the headline for this Patriot-News story on the looming pension crisis should have read the story. Even the plan administrators at PSERS and SERS don’t see…

Media

Read More: State employees’ pensions might carry big price tag

Regulation

Retire the current retirement system

  • February 20, 2006

This Daily Item editorial gets it almost exactly right. While the conclusions are accurate that it will be the taxpayers who take it on the chin, the blame is…

Media

Read More: Retire the current retirement system