ActRight

Some American disasters come as bolts from the blue — the stock-market crash of October 1929, Pearl Harbor, the designated hitter, 9/11. Others are predictable because they arise from arithmetic that is neither hidden nor arcane. Now comes the tsunami of pension problems that will wash over many cities and states. Dallas has the fastest-growing economy of America’s 13 largest cities, but in spite of its glistening commercial towers, it represents the skull beneath the skin of American prosperity. According to its mayor, the city is “walking into the fan blades” of pension promises: The fund for retired police and firefighters is $5 billion underfunded. Prompted by projections that the fund will be exhausted within 20 years, retirees last year withdrew $230 million from it in a six-week span. In the entire year, the fund paid out $283 million and the city put in just $115 million. Last November, the New York Times reported that the police and fire fund sought a $1.1 billion infusion, a sum “roughly equal to Dallas’ entire general-fund budget and not even close to what the pension fund needs to be fully funded.” Nowadays, America’s most persistent public dishonesties are the wildly optimistic, but politically convenient, expectations for returns on pension-fund investments. Last year, when Illinois reduced its expected return on its teachers’ retirement fund from 7.5 percent to 7, this meant a $400 million to $500 million addition to the taxes needed annually for the fund. And expecting 7 percent is probably imprudent. Add to the Illinois example the problems of the 49 other states that have pension debt of at least $19,000 per household and numerous municipalities, and you will understand why many jurisdictions will be considering buyouts, whereby government workers are offered a lump sum in exchange for smaller pension benefits. Last September, in the seventh year of the recovery from the Great Recession, the vice chair of the agency in charge of Oregon’s government-workers’ pension system wept when speaking about the state’s unfunded pension promises passing $22 billion. The Manhattan Institute’s Josh B. McGee reports that teachers’ pension plans, which cover more people than all other state and local plans combined, have at least a $500 billion problem. This is the gap between promised benefits and money set aside to fund them. A clear and present consequence is, McGee says, “pension cost crowd-out.” Because pensions are consuming a larger share of education spending, 29 states spent less per pupil on instructional supplies in 2013 than in 2000, and during that period, instructional salaries per pupil were essentially flat. This is just another instance of public policies that transfer wealth from the young to the elderly who, after a lifetime of accumulation, are society’s most affluent cohort. As of last August, the Financial Times reported that pensions run by companies in the S&P 1500 index were underfunded by $562 billion — up $160 billion in just seven months. Pensions, including those of private companies, are being buffeted by a perfect storm of adverse events: People are living longer. Economic growth is persistently sluggish. Bond yields have declined dramatically during seven years of near-zero interests rates, which produce higher valuations of equities, lowering the future returns that can be realistically expected. As of last August, the Financial Times reported that pensions run by companies in the S&P 1500 index were underfunded by $562 billion — up $160 billion in just seven months.     The generic problem in the public sector is the moral hazard at the weakly beating heart of what Walter Russell Mead calls the “blue model” of governance — the perverse incentives in the alliance of state and local elected Democrats with public employees’ unions. The former purchase the latter’s support with extravagant promises, the unrealism of which will become apparent years hence, when the promise-makers will have moved on. The latter expect that when the future arrives, the government that made the promises can be compelled by law or political pressure to extract the promised money from the public. This game, a degradation of democracy, could be disrupted by laws requiring more realistic expectations about returns on pension-fund investments, or even by congressional hearings to highlight the problem. But too much of the political class has skin in the game. The problems of state and local pensions are cumulatively huge. The problems of Social Security and Medicare are each huge, but in 2016 neither candidate addressed them, and today’s White House chief of staff vows that the administration will not “meddle” with either program. Demography, however, is destiny for entitlements, so arithmetic will do the meddling. — George Will is a Pulitzer Prize–winning syndicated columnist. © 2017 Washington Post Writers Group

The New York Times this week continued its month-long campaign against designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

He hasn't signed major legislation. He waffles. And he hasn't set clear lines of authority.

The Democrat Party, its Media serfs, and Social Justice Incorporated are all outraged because we uppity normals are again presuming to rule ourselves, and their agony is delightful.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VeryDicey Website: https://www.verydicey.com

This is the exact opposite of the standard of choice advocated by many proponents of physician-assisted suicide.

As if on cue, riots broke out in a heavily immigrant suburb of Stockholm as soon as the media mocked President Donald Trump for a vague warning about immigration-related problems in Sweden. At a...

'Only conduct that prevents others from exercising their free speech rights would be prohibited.'

'de facto segregation' ...

Claiming people are being paid to riot, Republican state senators voted Wednesday to give police new power to arrest anyone who is involved in a peaceful demonstration that may turn bad ? eve…

Television personality Steve Harvey says his so-called friends have been giving him a hard time about his January meeting with President Trump. Speaking with actor and comedian Mike Epps on his talk show on Wednesday, Harvey showed the audience a viral video of Epps joking that he was told by Harvey that his meeting with Trump was about buying the White House. After sharing a laugh, Harvey went on to say: So many of my so-called friends have just eaten me alive for going to meet with the president of the United States. He said the whole post-meeting situation mind-boggling because, he went on, if you understood what Trump and I were meeting about, you'd probably be quiet. Harvey said these people don't understand, but brushed off their comments as just being social media buzz. Harvey met with then-President-elect Trump at Trump Tower in New York City on Jan. 13, where the two reportedly discussed inner cities reform.

Guest post by Joe Hoft President Donald Trump reduced the US Debt burden in his first month in office! On ...

"You don't see that now."

Anti-Trump organizations and Democrat-aligned civil servants are conspiring to actively work against the incumbent government.

JOIN CENTIPEDES - https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/ HIGH ENERGY Channel - https://goo.gl/lVZX74 Back-Up Channel - https://goo.gl/dyt6yZ 2nd Back-Up Channe...

For educators, these social media postings sure were dumb moves.

Constitutional jurisprudence was thrown out the window a long, long time ago.

Is there something wrong with Nancy Pelosi? During a Friday appearance before Families USA — the activist group fighting the repeal of Obamacare — Pelosi was seen repeating words, telling the audience when to clap and mistakingly said John Kasich was the governor of Illinois. Pelosi began by thanking the person who introduced her for …

THE terrifying scale of Muslim migrant sex attacks in Germany has been laid bare in a new map detailing the thousands of locations where women and children have been raped and abused in 2016 alone.

OTHER PAT CONDELL RANTS! Mirrored All credit to the voice of reason, Pat Condell. No Tithing From Within https://youtu.be/NU-J9MPiNF8 Full Respect To Islam h...

Immigration: The deportation rules announced this week by Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were greeted with the expected outrage from the usual suspects. But since when is enforcing the law a crime? In this case, the law that Kelly plans to enforce is the 1965 Immigration and

Several years ago, when my last name was different and my politics were less entrenched, I worked for a nonpartisan fact-checking site. We analyzed fal ...

Immigration protesters unfurled a sign that read "Refugees Welcome" from the observation deck of the Statue of Liberty.

Smear campaigns are designed to delegitimise, not refute. This character assassination is a weapon of the culture wars. Gamergate videos: https://www.youtube...

Professor and author Steven Hayward joins Federalist Radio to give a brief history of the most influential thinkers in conservative political philosophy.