[quote=CA renter]For one thing, many of us have been saying that some of the benefit formulas need to be reworked, putting them back to levels seen before pension benefits were boosted back in the late 90s.
Some of us have also advocated for pension funds (of all stripes) to get back into more conservative types of investments — govt bonds and very high quality debt, etc. — and to realign their return forecasts as a result. But this would only work if the Federal Reserve were mandated to stay out of interest rate manupulations except for very rare emergencies. Even then, their moves would have to be closely scrutinized and the pension funds (or a federal agency that oversees govt pension funds) should have some representation in the decision making process at the Fed.
If we want to change the way all financial entities calculate risks, the entire FIRE sector would implode.[/quote]
an economic implosion that harms finance, insurance as well as RE and other sectors of the economy is all but certain IMHO (the only question(s) are when will the TSHTF, to what magnitude will TSHTF how long will the global economy be screwed)
as I see things the stresses built up on the fault line of is too far gone to prevent an inevitable “economic/social” earthquake
starting from the beginning seems you don’t understand that the problem you seem to care about “inequality” is NOT a fed caused problem (WRT setting interest rates) but rather systemic in nature
they (the fed) are a one trick pony and separating out all the emotional baggage, the data tells me what is going on is just economic darwinism at work
the reason rich are rich is because they are very efficient at taking advantage of low interest rates and have access to investment vehicles that grow money (whereas the “poor” are NOT very efficient at taking advantage of low interest rates)
because you seem hung up on labels, perhaps you should watch this video clip of an economist of a liberal think tank that explains things:
a few months ago a neighbor (who own a few properties in the neighborhood) and he shared that some in the neighborhood were trying to build support for local park
when I looked at the project calculated it was a hundred million dollar pork barrel project
basically like a corrupt corp that under-bids a project then charges cost over runs, seems estimated costs were much less than what seems to me as a common sense cost approach (but what do I know) FYI the project was being supported by RE interests and some local politicians (go figure)
this is just another example of local corruption/self interest destroying the economy from w/in
ironically this past week there was a news video that was about a program trying to help homeless people in the area by requiring them to have one-on-one financial counseling (which seems to be a good start)
I have to admit I didn’t really care or understand the nature of public pensions (till a few years ago), but as I see things it requires politicians to admit the system is corrupt and since they have an economic/political self-interest in hiding the truth there is very little hope to avoid a crisis of biblical proportion.
nothing will be fixed for a long time (if at all) for the simple reason in order to fix a problem, first one must admit that there is a problem and have the mental ability to understand the complex nature of the system.
one only has to read the newspaper to see that local politicians share economic traits much in common with corrupt companies/official like in the ENRON corp
actually the guy that helped me understand my sewer line issue told me stuff has been going on for years and over sights like a ex-council member who got a permit to build a garage (right on the property line, contrary to stated set-back rules which are clearly stated) in the neighborhood just after he was termed out and ran for higher office (years ago) is no different that what happened to me…
government corruption is just like a fractal (because the pattern reappears over and over again, at different levels of government)
my own look at the data shows the system is corrupt and there is no economic incentive to admit there is anything wrong (which IMHO is going to play right into the hands of foreign powers that are playing the long “economic” warfare game against the USA)
bottom line I can’t imagine foreign powers ignoring easy to exploit useful-idiots (as well as corrupt politician) who want to keep their unsustainable public pension (in play) as a diversionary tactic against the USA in the realm of geo-politics
