Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout

[galileoreloaded]

Source: Bloomberg

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Transit Authority retirement plan had a $1.5 billion hole in its stash of assets in 2007. At the height of a four-year bull market, it didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay its retirees through 2013, meaning it was underfunded to the tune of 62 percent.
...Snip....
The misleading numbers posted by retirement fund administrators help mask this reality: Public pensions in the U.S. had total liabilities of $2.9 trillion as of Dec. 16, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Their total assets are about 30 percent less than that, at $2 trillion.

With stock market losses this year, public pensions in the U.S. are now underfunded by more than $1 trillion.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=alwTE0Z5.1EA&refer=home

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You read that correctly folks, even if you worked for a supposedly "safe" agency, they have issues as well.

I really hope the powers that be get a handle on this, my dad worked for 30 years as firefighter, and I just don't know how this would affect him.

[GoesTo11]

1. Not all firefighter pensions need to be saved. No offense to your dad.

http://wbztv.com/local/boston.firefighter.pensions.2.712620.html

[bertman]

2. Somebody please explain to me why those individuals who allowed this type of abuse to

occur should not be locked up for life. The people "overseeing" these investment funds were making MILLIONS of dollars because their jobs are so important and require so much skill and acumen that they must be paid like princes for their work. But they were incompetent and they were thieves. When will we realize this and treat them as such?

[bemildred]

4. Good question.

Does being a CEO mean you are best at sucking up and facilitating theft?

[blossomstar]

5. That's the same question I've been thinking

why are "white collar" theives any less theives than others? Laws have been broken or disregarded. Until these people are held responsible instead of a slap on the hand, it will continue. At the very least, they should be fired from their jobs instead of given more money. I just don't get it. Not at all.

[Confusious]

3. It never ends does it?

I'm mad that the administrators get to pull this shit, and then we have to eat it.

[ohio2007]

6. well, what comes after "trillion" ? nt

[Flora]

7. This is getting to be too much...

What happens if we just *let the cards fall where they may*??

How much more can we mortgage as a nation and still survive??

[Igel]

8. We've seen that, haven't we?

I mean, all the class-warriors convinced that the stock losses don't affect them because, well, they don't play the stock market. Only rich people have stocks, they pronounce.

Then it turns out, as was generally common knowledge, that pension funds have to invest their money in some sort of vehicle. For many corporations, the single largest shareholder is a pension fund. Usually a state-run pension fund.