(Congress Report) – Need even more proof that Democratic Party economic plans are disastrous for the American people? How about the fact that there are currently three high-profile leftists governors who are having a really difficult time stabilizing their states’ retirement programs because of a falling stock market and might end up having to pay out the benefits owed to their residents over the course of the coming years?
This is the level of incompetence that is oozing out of the pores of any finance related policies being implemented at the local, state, and federal level by progressives. It’s almost as if the left is attempting to destroy the current system and completely replace it with something else.
Laurel Duggan of the Daily Caller wrote, “Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, all of whom are considered potential candidates for the 2024 presidential race, have poured billions of dollars into their states’ pension funds, according to Politico. They may struggle to maintain their public images if they’re forced to raise taxes or make budget cuts to keep pension payments flowing.”
“Retirement fund investment plans can’t accrue as much money in weak markets or during times of slow economic growth, so more of the payouts must rely on tax money, according to Politico. Rising interest rates and declines in the stock market during 2022 created a bad investment environment for retirement funds, and 2023 will likely be worse,” Duggan continued.
The legislation I signed today is yet another bill that advances Illinois’ fiscal progress and saves millions of taxpayer dollars. We are extending the window for state employees, university workers, and educators to take advantage of early access to their pensions through 2026. pic.twitter.com/j5qObrQ9IW
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) May 5, 2022
The vast majority of state and local retirement systems bled cash in 2022, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is the largest public pension in the U.S., with a loss of around $30 billion, as per a report from Politico. At least a bit of the blame for this falls on the shoulders of the predecessors of the current three governors who failed miserably in their duty to adequately fund the retirement systems while they were in office.
“When we arrived on the scene, New Jersey’s pension system had either been ignored or underfunded by administrations on both sides of the aisle for more than 20 years,” Murphy stated in a conversation with the outlet, going on to add that he is “fully committed” to paying the state’s full obligation to its retirement system for the third time in a row in 2023.
“There’s going to be acute fiscal pain and pressure the more you ignore the cost,” Leonard Gilroy, a senior managing director of the Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project, which provides counsel for state governments concerning pension plans, said in an interview with Politico. “If you’re not paying it down, you’re chasing it.”
When the Daily Caller News Foundation attempted to reach out to the three governors there was no response.
Any time the government sticks its dirty paws into something related to economics and finance, you can almost guarantee their desire to redistribute wealth and implement some draconian Marxist nonsense into the mix is going to cause problems. Not to mention that it seems when it comes to money, there is no greater level of incompetence than that reached by individuals on the left.
Copyright 2022. CongressReport.com
Step one of any fix would be to look closely at the bloated retirement packages given to government employees, but especially high ranking employees. I know some government employees who retired only to HAVE to go to work outside government, but others who were granted more than one retirement plan from the same government. It’s ridiculous.
“It’s almost as if the left is attempting to destroy the current system and completely replace it with something else.”
Well, DUH.
One only has to listen to their future plans, read their objectives to understand the “something else”. Progressives plan to replace capitalism (the most successful economic system in the world)…with socialism (which has failed everywhere).