I almost hate to utter these words, but when are the pension funds going to come after Tesla?
Their stock is down more than 25%, and we have reached the stage in the cycle when a lot of class action lawsuits start happening. For instance I know the Ironworkers are coming after a big chip company.
Showing posts sorted by date for query pension. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query pension. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Monday, October 15, 2018
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Peddling fiction since 2009.
This is how I read the news now. Well, I should say again. During parts of the Great Recession I had to use this is a tactic to figure out the world. Because every article I read was basically bullshit propaganda. Or I thought they just didn't know what they were talking about. It's very smoke and mirrors right now.
Headline - Here’s why you shouldn’t freak out about crude oil’s crash.
Me - Oh shit! I should freak out about the oil crash.
The article continues - Schwab’s Sonders argues oil’s drop won’t trigger U.S. recession.
Me - Great. We are in a recession. Which - we almost technically are. So, it's super crazy for someone at Schwab to say such a stupid thing. Manufacturing has been in technical contraction for two quarters. Three quarters of contraction is a technical recession by every standard. And oil is telegraphing that third quarter isn't looking great.
I don't know what is going to happen when people realize how much their pension funds are tied to oil stocks. They used to be the safe but boring play. The widows and orphans fund. First will go the divided. Which is really why most people bought them anyway. In Aug of last read I read an article about how CALPERS had lost 5 billion on their energy investments. I think oil was still up in the 40-50 dollar range but I will have to check.
Headline - Here’s why you shouldn’t freak out about crude oil’s crash.
Me - Oh shit! I should freak out about the oil crash.
The article continues - Schwab’s Sonders argues oil’s drop won’t trigger U.S. recession.
Me - Great. We are in a recession. Which - we almost technically are. So, it's super crazy for someone at Schwab to say such a stupid thing. Manufacturing has been in technical contraction for two quarters. Three quarters of contraction is a technical recession by every standard. And oil is telegraphing that third quarter isn't looking great.
I don't know what is going to happen when people realize how much their pension funds are tied to oil stocks. They used to be the safe but boring play. The widows and orphans fund. First will go the divided. Which is really why most people bought them anyway. In Aug of last read I read an article about how CALPERS had lost 5 billion on their energy investments. I think oil was still up in the 40-50 dollar range but I will have to check.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
California tries to eat itself.
All of you may have heard that we (California) are in a big giant drought. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that the water districts have started handing out big fat giant fines. Read: California proposes historic $1.5M fine for taking water.
I've read countless articles about this topic because it stomps on senior water rights holders. What I find really fascinating though is very few articles talk about how this fine is a huge problem for CALPERS. Oh yes it is.
You see, the district which is most affected by this fine is a little city called Mountain House in the East Bay. At one time during the heat of the recession 90% of homes there were underwater. No pun intended. We referred to it as California's ghost city. I blogged about it here. At the time people would report moving vans pulling up in the middle of the night and families would just disappear. I went out there when only 46% of the town was in foreclosure in 2007.
This is the kicker though. Mountain house is owned by CALPERS. Normally this might not be a problem, but apparently Mountain House is only 1/3 built out. And they need to keep building to pay back their bond holders for infrastructure and a water treatment plant. Yet the water district is fining the shit out of them. Which is sort of awkward because the people doing the fine-ing most assuredly belong to CALPERS. I guess people still aren't hip to those pension cuts that a lot of bankrupt States have endured lately.
Naturally I had to go over and see what houses are going for out there now because right before the crash they were selling for around 950,000. The most expensive house I could find was just still shy of 600,000. From time to time I still read that around 15% of homeowners are still underwater and I try to figure out who this demo is. It was a really painful time, so I don't know how many people held out - but apparently that demo is still in Mountain House and is probably owned by the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
After the recession I started paying a lot more attention to CALPERS. Not because I have a public retirement account, but because CALPERS played a huge role in the housing crash. In 2008 the Wall Street Journal claimed the CALPERS real estate portfolio was bigger than the government-run funds of Russia, South Korea, Dubai and Chile combined.
This might not be big enough to get your panties in a bunch about except that the general manager of Mountain house said this: “If we’re not growing, we’re dying,” said Pattison, whose district provides water and other services to the unincorporated community. A moratorium on new houses could bring on a “financial death spiral” that would be “more catastrophic than the 2007 crash,” he said. Source.
I hope he means just for that city, but CALPERS has it's tentacles in everything.
I've read countless articles about this topic because it stomps on senior water rights holders. What I find really fascinating though is very few articles talk about how this fine is a huge problem for CALPERS. Oh yes it is.
You see, the district which is most affected by this fine is a little city called Mountain House in the East Bay. At one time during the heat of the recession 90% of homes there were underwater. No pun intended. We referred to it as California's ghost city. I blogged about it here. At the time people would report moving vans pulling up in the middle of the night and families would just disappear. I went out there when only 46% of the town was in foreclosure in 2007.
This is the kicker though. Mountain house is owned by CALPERS. Normally this might not be a problem, but apparently Mountain House is only 1/3 built out. And they need to keep building to pay back their bond holders for infrastructure and a water treatment plant. Yet the water district is fining the shit out of them. Which is sort of awkward because the people doing the fine-ing most assuredly belong to CALPERS. I guess people still aren't hip to those pension cuts that a lot of bankrupt States have endured lately.
Naturally I had to go over and see what houses are going for out there now because right before the crash they were selling for around 950,000. The most expensive house I could find was just still shy of 600,000. From time to time I still read that around 15% of homeowners are still underwater and I try to figure out who this demo is. It was a really painful time, so I don't know how many people held out - but apparently that demo is still in Mountain House and is probably owned by the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
After the recession I started paying a lot more attention to CALPERS. Not because I have a public retirement account, but because CALPERS played a huge role in the housing crash. In 2008 the Wall Street Journal claimed the CALPERS real estate portfolio was bigger than the government-run funds of Russia, South Korea, Dubai and Chile combined.
This might not be big enough to get your panties in a bunch about except that the general manager of Mountain house said this: “If we’re not growing, we’re dying,” said Pattison, whose district provides water and other services to the unincorporated community. A moratorium on new houses could bring on a “financial death spiral” that would be “more catastrophic than the 2007 crash,” he said. Source.
I hope he means just for that city, but CALPERS has it's tentacles in everything.
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Meanwhile in California.....
Presented without comment.
"State Controller John Chiang dropped a political bomb the other day, although he was so quiet about it, one could say it was a stealth bomb.
Chiang added public pension systems to his already large fiscal database. One chart reveals that their “unfunded liabilities” – the gap between assets and liabilities for current and future pensions – exploded from $6.3 billion in 2003 to $198.2 billion in 2013.
Moreover, that startling number assumes that pension systems will see asset earnings of about 7.5 percent a year – a number that some are beginning to see as unattainable." Here.
"State Controller John Chiang dropped a political bomb the other day, although he was so quiet about it, one could say it was a stealth bomb.
Chiang added public pension systems to his already large fiscal database. One chart reveals that their “unfunded liabilities” – the gap between assets and liabilities for current and future pensions – exploded from $6.3 billion in 2003 to $198.2 billion in 2013.
Moreover, that startling number assumes that pension systems will see asset earnings of about 7.5 percent a year – a number that some are beginning to see as unattainable." Here.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Whatever.
I have to admit, today I am feeling a giant disconnect with the world. It's like I am living in a completely different universe than.....well - everyone in California.
No one seems concerned about gas prices. Construction has picked up. And everything seems as it always was. So, why worry? I mean, that Greece thing is completely solved now. Right?
Except for that part where "some" people are going to be at least 50% poorer. That will not reverberate around the world at all.
I am curious though - are hedge funds going to be some of the poorer ones, or not? I mean, it changes everyday, but I thought banks were the only ones not taking a hair cut. Because apparently pension funds (specifically CALPERS, but I'm sure not limited to) has a little investing pool in Greece.
"CalPERS's primary role in Greece is through its financial partner Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. CalPERS has invested at least a half-billion dollars with the New York-based hedge fund. Och-Ziff is one of a selected group of hedge funds and private equity firms in which CalPERS entrusted large pools of money because these Wall Street insiders promise rates of return far exceeding index averages." Source.
The article goes on to say:
"There's still another angle to CalPERS's role in the Greek crisis. According to figures taken from the fund's 2010 Annual Investment Report (the most recent available), CalPERS has invested more than $245 million in Greek corporations. The largest such holdings were with the National Bank of Greece ($67 million), Alpha Bank ($35 million), EFG Eurobank ($27 million), Hellenic Telecommunications ($25 million), and Piraeus Bank ($21 million). CalPERS was exposed to at least 26 other Greek corporations through direct equity investments as of 2010."
Oh, what a relief! No worries then. They should have no problem hitting that 7.75% return on investment target. My bad.
No one seems concerned about gas prices. Construction has picked up. And everything seems as it always was. So, why worry? I mean, that Greece thing is completely solved now. Right?
Except for that part where "some" people are going to be at least 50% poorer. That will not reverberate around the world at all.
I am curious though - are hedge funds going to be some of the poorer ones, or not? I mean, it changes everyday, but I thought banks were the only ones not taking a hair cut. Because apparently pension funds (specifically CALPERS, but I'm sure not limited to) has a little investing pool in Greece.
"CalPERS's primary role in Greece is through its financial partner Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. CalPERS has invested at least a half-billion dollars with the New York-based hedge fund. Och-Ziff is one of a selected group of hedge funds and private equity firms in which CalPERS entrusted large pools of money because these Wall Street insiders promise rates of return far exceeding index averages." Source.
The article goes on to say:
"There's still another angle to CalPERS's role in the Greek crisis. According to figures taken from the fund's 2010 Annual Investment Report (the most recent available), CalPERS has invested more than $245 million in Greek corporations. The largest such holdings were with the National Bank of Greece ($67 million), Alpha Bank ($35 million), EFG Eurobank ($27 million), Hellenic Telecommunications ($25 million), and Piraeus Bank ($21 million). CalPERS was exposed to at least 26 other Greek corporations through direct equity investments as of 2010."
Oh, what a relief! No worries then. They should have no problem hitting that 7.75% return on investment target. My bad.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Oh - for - shits- sakes!
If these people knew just how deeply all of us can't stand these people. I've never seen such universal anger. Everyone - everywhere - understands they are ripping us off every single day. Makes the days of hitler bush seem like a cake walk.
So, when I read this little gem - I just had to grit my teeth.
California's city officials scramble to limit damage from Bell scandal
"On Thursday, city managers from across the state will gather in Sacramento to discuss damage control. Among the ideas on the table: launching an independent examination of city officials' salaries and compiling a database of salaries for municipal executives.
The Legislature also is mulling several Bell-inspired proposals, including a requirement that cities make salaries easily accessible on websites. "
"Many of the ideas are designed to put political distance between Bell and the rest of California's 480 cities and towns. "It would be really unfortunate if anyone took the outrageous action of one city and generalized it to all cities," said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, which is hosting the meeting."
Have these people lost their minds? This is happening in every single city in California. Hell, even my city the school administrator makes a half a million bucks.
Yet again.. the are going to act like they are doing something. All the while wasting our money. Google can effing help them out with this. They have heard of Google. Right? There are at least two databases that have this information compiled.
Secondly, it isn't that hard. A judge ordered this information be readily available. Again.. all it takes is a little search engine time. Not even all that much. There have been people reporting these excesses for a couple of years now. Just type in the words pension jackpot!
From Inside Bay Area last year.
"More than two years after state Supreme Court Justice Ronald George authored a 7-0 ruling stating that the salaries of all government employees are public record, some local governments still refuse to quickly release data. The city of Alameda took more than two months to release information on all of its 2008 employees and would not perform calculations to make the data easier for the public to understand. Albany refused to make similar calculations on overtime pay and bonuses."
Or just type the word pension into my site. It will at least get them started.
So, when I read this little gem - I just had to grit my teeth.
California's city officials scramble to limit damage from Bell scandal
"On Thursday, city managers from across the state will gather in Sacramento to discuss damage control. Among the ideas on the table: launching an independent examination of city officials' salaries and compiling a database of salaries for municipal executives.
The Legislature also is mulling several Bell-inspired proposals, including a requirement that cities make salaries easily accessible on websites. "
"Many of the ideas are designed to put political distance between Bell and the rest of California's 480 cities and towns. "It would be really unfortunate if anyone took the outrageous action of one city and generalized it to all cities," said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, which is hosting the meeting."
Have these people lost their minds? This is happening in every single city in California. Hell, even my city the school administrator makes a half a million bucks.
Yet again.. the are going to act like they are doing something. All the while wasting our money. Google can effing help them out with this. They have heard of Google. Right? There are at least two databases that have this information compiled.
Secondly, it isn't that hard. A judge ordered this information be readily available. Again.. all it takes is a little search engine time. Not even all that much. There have been people reporting these excesses for a couple of years now. Just type in the words pension jackpot!
From Inside Bay Area last year.
"More than two years after state Supreme Court Justice Ronald George authored a 7-0 ruling stating that the salaries of all government employees are public record, some local governments still refuse to quickly release data. The city of Alameda took more than two months to release information on all of its 2008 employees and would not perform calculations to make the data easier for the public to understand. Albany refused to make similar calculations on overtime pay and bonuses."
Or just type the word pension into my site. It will at least get them started.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
All of you - hand over your wallet.
You know, I've been trying to feed you happy stuff. But some days I just can't take it. When the city counsel in L.A. this week decided to postpone for 30 days any vote for layoffs in an effort to find other solutions for revenue - you know what they came up with? Selling t-shirts and key chains at city hall.
No seriously. HT here.
Cities everywhere have been faced with 12 straight months of declining tax revenue, and these people think they don't have to lay anyone off.
How do they think the salaries of the San Luis Sheriff making 772,000 and his boss making 340,000 a year are going to be paid? Here. Through t-shirts?
I know San Luis is not in L.A., but it's just another example of pension spiking abuses all over California. Everyone from the Sheriffs office to trash management. Huge ginormous pension spiking. Paid for life.
And, you will get to pay for it. I don't care what state you are in. I mean, they aren't going to let California fail. Just ask Germany. Yet they refuse to lay anyone off. You guys are good for the money. Right?
No seriously. HT here.
Cities everywhere have been faced with 12 straight months of declining tax revenue, and these people think they don't have to lay anyone off.
How do they think the salaries of the San Luis Sheriff making 772,000 and his boss making 340,000 a year are going to be paid? Here. Through t-shirts?
I know San Luis is not in L.A., but it's just another example of pension spiking abuses all over California. Everyone from the Sheriffs office to trash management. Huge ginormous pension spiking. Paid for life.
And, you will get to pay for it. I don't care what state you are in. I mean, they aren't going to let California fail. Just ask Germany. Yet they refuse to lay anyone off. You guys are good for the money. Right?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Not pretty.
See update at the bottom.
Man - I just wish all of this would stop.
So yesterday at breakfast Mr S. and I walked past a news paper stand. Front page was an article about how half of the rental properties in a crappy little city called East Palo Alto were going to be foreclosed upon. Half!
The properties are owned by a company called Page Mill Properties.
The article caught my attention, because of it's sheer magnitude. Sure East Palo Alto is a small city, but a 50% foreclosure of all rental housing in any city is notable. Also, I technically lived in EPA for a while when I was first starting my career. I say technically, because my zip was EPA, but I lived on the frontage road bordering the freeway on the Palo Alto side. It was a rent controlled area.
People think rent control is great. It isn't. And it's only something you can completely grasp until you live it. You understand the philosophy of how landlords can't raise rents so they never do repairs. Yet, you can't understand the magnitude until you experience it.
Anyway, the article made me wonder how many Page Mill Properties there were out there. Companies that moved into low income underdeveloped areas and just started buying cheap real estate. So I plugged Page Mill into a search engine, and much to my shock actually - the word CalPERS popped up. My mouth immediately dropped. CalPERS folks is the California Pension plan! Odd, I didn't see it mentioned in the newspaper article.
From The Registry.
"Palo Alto developer Page Mill Properties and CalPERS, its equity partner, may lose control of more than 1,700 apartments acquired since 2006 as part of a more than $340 million play in East Palo Alto."
The article goes onto to say:
"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System also has remained stubbornly mute on Page Mill’s activities or plans. CalPERS invested $100 million in the Page Mill fund. According to public record, it has written down the value by $40 million."
To me it looks like the pension fund will loose it's entire investment in East Palo Alto. Makes you wonder what else there is out there for them to loose?
Update: This is all happening on the street I used to live. Story here. Man, I haven't been in that neighborhood forever. Now I'm going to have to go look. That street never looked so nice. Photos at the link.
2nd update:
I couldn't believe that I missed the connection between CalPERS and Page Mill Properties when I read the article in the San Jose Mercury News paper. It is something that would have stood out to me. So, I re-read the article tonight. I guess I shouldn't be that surpised that the Mercury News carefully worded the article to make no connection between the two entities. This is what they say about the CalPERS investment into Page Mill.
"Another trashed apartment is the last thing Page Mill Properties needs right now. After using other people's money the past three years to buy and improve nearly half the rental units in this hardscrabble community wedged between the bay and the gleaming city of Palo Alto, a lot more than spray paint has hit a wall. "
When they say "other people's money" - they mean the retirement fund of California State employees and taxpayers.
The Article goes on to say:
"CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, helped fuel the buying by investing $100 million, and Page Mill got a quarter-billion-dollar loan from Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. CalPERS, under pressure by city officials and activists in East Palo Alto to end its involvement with Page Mill, would not comment. Neither would Wells Fargo, saying only that "the safety and quality of life of the tenants at Woodland Park is of primary concern to Wells Fargo."
Like that? They do mention CalPERS, but not that CalPERS actually gave Page Mill any money. That tidbit I ran across accidentally.
No wonder the employees of the State have no idea how screwed they are. And, just as a side note - by definition CalPERS is a slumlord. They are catagorised as an "equity partner". Partner to me is 50/50 ownership, but perhaps the definition has changed.
Also from the Mercury News article:
"Nobody knows what's going on," says Norma Rodriquez, 32, who lives with her husband and their five children, shoehorned into a bug-infested one-bedroom apartment. With the temporary closing of the management office early this month, "I worry about my rent check and I don't know if it's going to the owner.'' "
Man - I just wish all of this would stop.
So yesterday at breakfast Mr S. and I walked past a news paper stand. Front page was an article about how half of the rental properties in a crappy little city called East Palo Alto were going to be foreclosed upon. Half!
The properties are owned by a company called Page Mill Properties.
The article caught my attention, because of it's sheer magnitude. Sure East Palo Alto is a small city, but a 50% foreclosure of all rental housing in any city is notable. Also, I technically lived in EPA for a while when I was first starting my career. I say technically, because my zip was EPA, but I lived on the frontage road bordering the freeway on the Palo Alto side. It was a rent controlled area.
People think rent control is great. It isn't. And it's only something you can completely grasp until you live it. You understand the philosophy of how landlords can't raise rents so they never do repairs. Yet, you can't understand the magnitude until you experience it.
Anyway, the article made me wonder how many Page Mill Properties there were out there. Companies that moved into low income underdeveloped areas and just started buying cheap real estate. So I plugged Page Mill into a search engine, and much to my shock actually - the word CalPERS popped up. My mouth immediately dropped. CalPERS folks is the California Pension plan! Odd, I didn't see it mentioned in the newspaper article.
From The Registry.
"Palo Alto developer Page Mill Properties and CalPERS, its equity partner, may lose control of more than 1,700 apartments acquired since 2006 as part of a more than $340 million play in East Palo Alto."
The article goes onto to say:
"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System also has remained stubbornly mute on Page Mill’s activities or plans. CalPERS invested $100 million in the Page Mill fund. According to public record, it has written down the value by $40 million."
To me it looks like the pension fund will loose it's entire investment in East Palo Alto. Makes you wonder what else there is out there for them to loose?
Update: This is all happening on the street I used to live. Story here. Man, I haven't been in that neighborhood forever. Now I'm going to have to go look. That street never looked so nice. Photos at the link.
2nd update:
I couldn't believe that I missed the connection between CalPERS and Page Mill Properties when I read the article in the San Jose Mercury News paper. It is something that would have stood out to me. So, I re-read the article tonight. I guess I shouldn't be that surpised that the Mercury News carefully worded the article to make no connection between the two entities. This is what they say about the CalPERS investment into Page Mill.
"Another trashed apartment is the last thing Page Mill Properties needs right now. After using other people's money the past three years to buy and improve nearly half the rental units in this hardscrabble community wedged between the bay and the gleaming city of Palo Alto, a lot more than spray paint has hit a wall. "
When they say "other people's money" - they mean the retirement fund of California State employees and taxpayers.
The Article goes on to say:
"CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, helped fuel the buying by investing $100 million, and Page Mill got a quarter-billion-dollar loan from Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo. CalPERS, under pressure by city officials and activists in East Palo Alto to end its involvement with Page Mill, would not comment. Neither would Wells Fargo, saying only that "the safety and quality of life of the tenants at Woodland Park is of primary concern to Wells Fargo."
Like that? They do mention CalPERS, but not that CalPERS actually gave Page Mill any money. That tidbit I ran across accidentally.
No wonder the employees of the State have no idea how screwed they are. And, just as a side note - by definition CalPERS is a slumlord. They are catagorised as an "equity partner". Partner to me is 50/50 ownership, but perhaps the definition has changed.
Also from the Mercury News article:
"Nobody knows what's going on," says Norma Rodriquez, 32, who lives with her husband and their five children, shoehorned into a bug-infested one-bedroom apartment. With the temporary closing of the management office early this month, "I worry about my rent check and I don't know if it's going to the owner.'' "
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The final days of the gravy train.
It is ironic I got this shot today. When I started bitching about the firefighters, here and way back here, I never imagined the shit storm that was descending on government employees.
How could I know really? It's taken 5 years to gain access to government employee compensation. This is after a supreme court ruled that cities must release the information. Some cities are still holding out.
"More than two years after state Supreme Court Justice Ronald George authored a 7-0 ruling stating that the salaries of all government employees are public record, some local governments still refuse to quickly release data. Pinole in Contra Costa County balked at providing data on overtime and bonuses, releasing only gross pay. The city of Alameda took more than two months to release information on all of its 2008 employees and would not perform calculations to make the data easier for the public to understand. Albany refused to make similar calculations on overtime pay and bonuses."
Read more here from Inside Bay Area.
Which I urge everyone in California to read. It outlines the unconscionable abuses across the board in over time pay. With a ginormous amount of people spiking their salaries 150% with overtime pay. So for example, if your base salary was 100,000 - your take home could be 250,000! And, we'd pay you that for for as long as you live. You might even get a car allowance or bonus thrown in for good measure.
I honestly debated titling this post the 100 thousand dollar club.
They retire with salary plus 150% overtime and deluxe medical. Then they hire someone else for 100+ grand to take their spot. And what is so infuriating - is they could have hired a whole new staff member and still saved us money. Since they are pulling time and a half after all.They rob us all. They make business move out of the state due to the ridiculous tax burden.
No wonder I can run into a firefighter sporting a CLS Mercedes or a series 5 BMW or Volvo or Lexus with reasonable regularity. And the sad thing is - firefighters are only visible because of their license plates. Apparently the abuses are ridiculously rampant in all cities. These are the people who are going to keep health care costs down in a public run system?!
Look at this quote from the article.
"The data show wide discrepancies in pay and sometimes high salaries in government agencies, such as the Port of Oakland, where a semiskilled laborer grossed $123,450 in 2008, and in Newark, in southern Alameda County, where more than half of the 215 city employees were each paid more than $100,000 last year and the average gross pay was $109,027."
Half! Of the city of Newark made over 100k, when the average salary for that city is 80K.
Thank goodness someone had the balls to get this data from the government. I don't know how much traction it will get. Yet, I have seen some bubbling up this past week. At least one official in the East bay has "stepped down to spend more time with his family". Which is code for - you better leave. His pension close to 300k a year. I'll try to find the article.
I hadn't thought much about the whole thing except I'd started seeing more and more stories about it this last week. Then it was on the front page of the newspaper today. They even have a term for it. Pension jackpot.
Strangely when I first started talking about this I attributed the ridiculous pay to 9/11 fallout. However, I've been noticing the comments for these stories change dramatically. From Hero's to thieves.
There's even a website dedicated to the Pension Tsunami. You know, if you wanted to kill all feelings of hope that ever existed in your body.
Or you could read more outrageousness from presstelegram.com
It only gets more ridiculous.
"The dubious honor of collecting the state's highest pension belongs to former Vernon City Administrator Bruce Malkenhorst, who receives $499,675 per year - even though he is currently facing two counts of misappropriating public funds for allegedly taking $60,000 in city money for personal use."
"As grand juries throughout the state are investigating pension systems, former Assemblyman Keith Richman, president of CFFR, said these huge pensions are the result of a "corrupt pension system."
California, Richman said, is the only state in the nation that allows employees to use their highest year of salary - including unused vacation, vehicle allowances, bonuses and other compensation - in calculating their pensions."
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