NJ Pension Palaver

Popping up on NJ Public Television this weekend, the public pension crisis:

Same stuff though I would add some clarification:

On The House (2)

Rest of the non-“log cabin” excerpts from the book:

Buffer Pirates

I submitted my question on Monday giving the financial people time to think up an answer. This is the best they could do:

My guess is that this answer came from the accountants (Suplee, Clooney & Company) and something was lost in translation.

What Did You Do With the Money?

Ringo Starr: What money?

Stuttering John: The money your mother gave you for singing lessons.

Ringo Starr: I spent it on fish and chips?

I will be asking a version of this question today of the Union County commissioners at their zoom meeting though it will relate to the money that they claimed was going into the the state retirement system for their employees.

If Only Cosell Were Running This

Unnecessary borrowing, unnecessary deaths, useless palaver. Where’s Howard Cosell when you need him.

Two good questions and two cop-outs from today’s covid briefing/rally:

On The House (1)

The book is supposed to be released next week but a Barnes & Noble had it lying around so I got it. Certainly not one of those Clinton/Obama tell-nothings (that take 500 pages to do it) and several excepts that I read (excluding the stuff about his family and football coach) convinced me that Boehner is never running for elected office again and that the lung cancer may be spreading.

Dangers of COFIB-19

“The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is a vaccine and may prevent you from getting COVID-19. There is no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19….The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine may not protect everyone….The duration of protection against COVID-19 is currently unknown.”

Revised: Mar/26/20211 FACT SHEET FOR RECIPIENTS AND CAREGIVERS EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZATION (EUA) OF THE MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE TO PREVENT CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) IN INDIVIDUALS 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER

These are excerpts from the reading material you get with the Moderna vaccine, obviously on advice of counsel, that is missing from the media propaganda to get vaccinated. But if the vaccines work then the obvious question:

Pretty much confirming that they don’t know. So what if the vaccines do not work? What’s the downside?

A Sense of Where You Are

Maybe it had to do with the end of the college basketball season or my recollection of a phone call with Bill Bradley after a letter criticizing his tax reform proposal appeared in the Elizabeth Daily Journal which titled it “Phony as a Three Dollar Bill” but I finally got around to reading John McPhee’s take on Bradley’s Princeton days.

Yes, Rescuing Pensions Will Destroy Them

On the Brookings website Joshua Gothbaum, former head of the PBGC, argues the opposite believing:

• Employers in multiemployer plans will not withdraw if they do not have to pay withdrawal liabilities,
• State and local plans will not be in line for similar bailouts, and
• Congress will “probably not” let plans get into trouble again.

All debatable points but what is incontrovertible:

Multiemployer Pension Bailout Zooming Along

There was a Zoom call this Monday with former Congressman Pete King joining in “to congratulate all the retirees on this hard earned victory and thank them for their patience…..The Fund is currently in contact with the PBGC and other agencies to be prepared when the application process begins in mid July” as explained in this excerpt:

Full zoom: