January 30, 2011

Alarming Pension (Non) News from the New General Treasurer; An Alarming, Pension Related Development from Moodys

Monique Chartier

General Treasurer Gina Raimondo has been looking at the state's pension fund books.

She notes to the ProJo's Kathy Gregg one bit of good news: the return on investment of the pension fund in 2010 was 12%.

Unfortunately, that annual return rate was very much an anomaly. This is compounded, as we know, by years of underfunding of principle, not to mention the original promise of extremely generous retirement benefits. (The origin of both of these rash decisions - don't put enough into the fund; send more than necessary out of it - is the democrat controlled you-know-what.)

So, while none of this will come as a shock to even part-time observers of Rhode Island politics, the GT is correct to raise the alarm.

Looking back over the last 12 months, Raimondo said this disparity between money-in and money-out to more than 25,000 current pensioners was a projected $331 million. That drain reduced the year-over-year growth in the fund, which was valued at $6.8 billion in 2009, down to 6.6 percent, according to one of Raimondo’s top aides.

“A negative $300 million is a serious problem …. a multibillion-dollar math problem,” she said. “Every day we are in a hole.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, we learned that

Moody’s Investors Service has begun to recalculate the states’ debt burdens in a way that includes unfunded pensions, something states and others have ardently resisted until now.

* * *

The ratings agency said that in the future, it will add states’ unfunded pension obligations together with the value of their bonds, and consider the totals when rating their credit. The new approach will be more comparable to how the agency rates corporate debt and sovereign debt. Moody’s did not indicate whether states’ credit ratings may rise or fall.

"Moody’s did not indicate whether states’ credit ratings may rise or fall." ... um, yeah. Because rating agencies constantly add factors that have zero impact on the calculation of their ratings. We'll just file that coy disclaimer in the "one step at at time; don't give them the bad news all at once" category.

A year ago, Forbes ranked Rhode Island's per capita unfunded pension liability as the worst in the country. Three years ago, the General Assembly's own pension study report (upon which the G.A., unbelievably, refused to act despite the dire evaluations therein) indicated that, per capita, Rhode Island's "pension fund debt and unfunded liability" at the time was the third worst in the country.

It appears - correct me if I'm wrong - that under Moodys revised rating system, if the state does not come to grips with its under funded, overly generous pension promises, the already onerous burden to Rhode Island taxpayers is going to get even heavier as the interest rate on the money we borrow rises. Accordingly (just so we're clear that this rating revision doesn't affect only the lowly taxpayer), the second and ultimate consequence of legislative inaction - the day when retirees' pension checks start bouncing - will be accelerated.

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Alarming for who??
Those howls echoing from the Villages in Florida to the shores of Hawaii as those pension checks bounce will be sweet sweet music to the ears of many a Rhode Islander as it signals the end of the decades long bad old days that have turned this state into Appalachia-by-the-Sea.
Can't wait!

Posted by: Tim at January 30, 2011 8:26 PM

Tim, I understand what you're getting at, except the state is contractually obligated to pay them, whether we have the money or not. If the Assembly allows the path to continue, it'll lead to a class action lawsuit against the state to pay the pensions. I don't know how the state would pay it at that point (borrow from China?).

We really need to get off the pension system. End it.

We also really need a law that makes politician incompetence a crime. As the post says, three years ago, the Assembly chose to not act on its own study. That's incompetence to a criminal degree. But people like Constantino are now out of office and untouchable and pretty soon, people will completely forget that he was one of the main architects of this problem.

Posted by: Patrick at January 31, 2011 8:39 AM

Blaming Constantino is ridiculous. This has been brewing for half a century. In fact Constantino was ready to stop COLA's at $12,000 last year until "the leadership" overruled him.
I hope nobody is sitting around waiting with glee for the checks to stop-the Smith Hill Mob will raise the sales tax to 200% before that happens.
Welcome to East Deeeeetroit.

Posted by: Tommy Cranston at January 31, 2011 9:27 AM

So Constantino is blameless in this? If he's not, then we agree. I said he was one of the architects. There have been many that pushed us down this path, and I won't even try to list them all, because then I'll surely miss some. Stevie C certainly shares some blame for this.

Posted by: Patrick at January 31, 2011 4:08 PM

Stevie C certainly shares some blame for this.
Posted by Patrick at January 31, 2011 4:08 PM

Oh he's a mostly useless scumbag to be sure. My point is that he and even Williamson were on the verge of adopting real (if not earth shattering) reform in the last few years only to be shot down by "leadership". Mostly from the Senate. Some from the "progressive" caucus in the House. Not everything that happens there gets reported on the radio and Political Scene.

Posted by: Tommy Cranston at January 31, 2011 7:19 PM
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