Short Quiz

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Short Quiz

Post by johnkarls »

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1. How much does the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimate is the amount by which state & local pension funds are under-funded?

2. Has the State of Illinois already begun a campaign to have the Federal Government take over the under-funding of the Illinois State and Chicago Municipal pension plans?

3. Could the Federal Government undertake the financing of the short falls in state & local pension funds without becoming bankrupt itself?

4. Should the Federal Government bail out state & local pension plans?

5. Who charters (aka licenses) municipal governments?

6. Can a state revoke or modify the charter of a municipal government at any time for any reason?

7. Did the State of Michigan pursuant to its inherent power over its municipalities, deny the City of Detroit bankruptcy protection and instead appoint a “Dictator” to replace the Detroit City Government?

8. Did the Detroit Mayor announce a new city budget on 4/12/2013 calling for $1 billion of spending with a $328 million deficit?

9. Did the State-Appointed Detroit Dictator immediately on 4/12/2013 issue a press release rebuking the Detroit Mayor and reminding him that he has no authority?

10. Why does Chapter 9 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act which governs municipal bankruptcies, give a “free pass” to municipalities that the homeowners of a municipality would not have enjoyed if they had neglected to call the partnership they had formed to provide schools, fire/police protection, etc., a “municipality” rather than calling it the “partnership” that any municipality truly is?

11. What is CalPERS?

12. Why does CalPERS support the bankruptcy petition of Stockton CA while Stockton’s bondholders oppose the petition?

13. Why is the reverse true of the bankruptcy petition of San Bernardino CA (CalPERS opposing and bondholders supporting)?

14. Are municipalities in other states required to insure their employee-pension plans with a state agency the same way that California municipalities are required to insure with CalPERS?

15. Does an insurance policy such as each California municipality has with CalPERS or such as a municipality elsewhere in the U.S. might have with a private insurance company, relieve the municipality of its primary liability to its employees to pay their pensions?

16. As the largest insurer of state and local pension plans, what is the value of the total assets of CalPERS?

17. What is the amount to which CalPERS admits to being under-funded?

18. Can CalPERS (and the governments in the other 49 states) “assume away” any under-funding by assuming an unrealistically-large rate of return on their assets?

19. Can corporations “assume away” any under-funding by assuming an unrealistically-large rate of return on their assets?

20. Why can CalPERS (and the governments in the other 49 states) “get away with murder” compared to corporations in “assuming away” any under-funding of their pension liabilities?

21. What is the average rate of return assumed by state and local governments in evaluating the under-funding of their pension plans according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office?

22. What is the rate of return that CalPERS assumes will be earned on its assets in calculating the extent to which it admits it is under-funded (please see Q&A-17 regarding the extent to which CalPERS admits it is under-funded)?

23. Does CalPERS issue annual reports?

24. How long has it been since CalPERS has issued an annual report?

25. How long does a corporation have to file its annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission?

26. Are CalPERS’ annual reports audited?

27. Since Chapter 9 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act gives a “free pass” to municipalities (when contrasted with what would have happened if homeowners had formed a partnership to provide schools, police/fire protection, etc.), should municipality employees merit any sympathy when they accept pension promises from the pols who are only too happy to promise future benefits that will never be paid?

28. In other words, didn’t the employees accept the promises of the pols with EYES WIDE SHUT (borrowing the title of the famous 1999 Stanley Kubrick movie starring Tom Cruise)?

29. We have studied many times in the past about how the United States denies a decent education to inner-city children because, inter alia, K-12 education in America is financed primarily with property taxes and our inner-cities do not have a significant property-tax base -- therefore, isn't the inability of Detroit and Chicago [and all of our other large inner cities -- a category in which I would NOT include Stockton CA or San Bernardino CA but rather a category which would comprise the ghettoes of our dozen or two largest metropolitan regions, e.g., NYC’s Bed-Sty, Harlem & South Bronx, Chicago’s South Side, L.A.’s South Central] to finance basic municipal services such as police and fire protection just another aspect of the same problem of being unable to provide inner-city children with a decent education?

30. Accordingly, doesn’t the State of Michigan owe the City of Detroit the $398 million short fall in the Detroit Mayor’s proposed $1 billion budget?

31. And doesn’t America as a country owe our inner cities at least basic fire and police protection, even if we refuse to provide the children in those inner cities with a decent education?

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