Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

Today, NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02leonhardt.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=leonhardt&st=cse .  Summary: it’s not the pay, it’s the pension and disability benefits.  And the work rules. Recently, Fortune/CNN: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/28/are-public-unions-our-convenient-economic-scapegoats/?section=magazines_fortune . Summary: the unions are (generally) not the cause. Neither article supports the current moves to strip unions of the right to strike and/or engage in collective bargaining.  

“…the current [pension] shortfall is attributable to the recent stock market plunge…” Hmm…first of all, the S&P 500 has doubled from its March 2009 low and is now within 40 points of its all time high (1,565 on Oct. 9, 2007).  So we are past the plunge. Second, the problem of poor returns now stretches [...]

I appreciate the fact that you have been so involved in this issue as it is one of the largest fiscal issues facing Massachusetts and the rest of the Country. Any reforms in this area however cannot simply be stopping the continued growth of pay and benefits in the public sector but actually reversing them. [...]

During my recent re-election campaign, I made public employee benefit reform a high priority and, having been reappointed to the public service committee, I’ll be working hard on the issue. Ongoing input will be much appreciated.

Via Brad Delong‘s blog: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/the-origins-and-severity-of-the-public-pension-crisis It argues, roughly, that the current shortfall is attributable to the recent stock market plunge, that pension funds, because of their size and long-term outlook, need not and should not invest like individuals, and that the size of the shortfalls, as a share of future state receipts, is not that alarming. [...]

Key resources on this issues include: Mass Taxpayers Foundations report on municipal liabilities. Pioneer Institute White Paper: The Elephant in the Room:  Unfunded Public Employee Health Care Benefits and GASB 45.  Actuarial Valuation Reports for the Commonwealth.  Federal Reserve Bank overview brief..

Will Brownsberger’s recent posts and proposed  ideas illustrate what a thoughtful legislators does; research, consult, publicly debate and propose. He is one of the good ones. While I would go in the direction of getting the state out of the retirement business, Will is attempting to lead reform that would reshape the pension system and [...]

It’s time to eliminate half-price sales of pension benefits for special employee groups.

Given the controversy about public employee benefits, it is important to get a clear picture of how public retirement benefits compare to private retirement benefits. In a nutshell, they are much richer.

Financial pressures and equity considerations require that the state rethink how it provides retirement security. Under the Massachusetts constitution, major changes could only be applied to new employees. An important first question in thinking through change options for new employees is: What does federal law require the state to provide to employees?

Stuart Altman, Connie Horgan and Michael Doonan from Brandeis came to the state house this week to hold an informal discussion about health care cost control with legislators and staff.

It isn’t clear that major state legislation is needed to advance experimentation with new health care cost-control models in Massachusetts. It may be primarily within the proper role of the executive branch to collaborate with federal Medicare and Medicaid administrators and move forward.

Will, It is time to clean house. The report on the Probation Department released this week by Independent Counsel Paul F.Ware, together with the Globe Spotlight Team’s report on Rep. Thomas Petrolati published in October and the Globe’s earlier report on Probation Department Commisioner John O’Brien paint a depressingly familiar picture of how business is [...]

While Mass. has been more responsible than the poster children of state irresponsibility Michael Gerson’s column is worth noting. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111106084.html?wpisrc=nl_pmopinions

“Saturday afternoon on NPR James Fallows proclaimed that “there is essentially no disagreement WHATSOEVER” among economists that more stimulus spending is necessary today [emphasis in the original]. He are misinformed. Last year, hundreds of economists signed a petition, circulated by the Cato Institute, whose key clause reads “it is a triumph of hope over experience [...]

I draw your attention to the streets of Paris, this from the lead paragraph in an article in the10/13  WSJ – ” PARIS—French unions brought more than a million people into the streets Tuesday and vowed to press on with more strikes to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to lift the retirement age, a measure [...]

There is a growing belief among serious economists that we, as a country, face a large and unsustainable gap between our financial resources and our financial expectations. Current deficit spending by the national government and a failure to control long term debt, pension and health care costs at all levels of government will lead to [...]

There’s a thoughtful discussion on On Point today about how to handle guaranteed pensions in the face of economic volatility: http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/07/pension-crisis They touch on pensions’ contributions towards budget deficits, how some public employees game their respective systems, and how public salaries differ from private salaries.  It’s worth a listen if you’re interested in the issue.

Will, There was an article in Saturday’s NYT entitled “In Budget Crisis States Take Aim at Pension Costs“.  It quotes a pension expert who finds that states like Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey are less than 10 years from exhausting their pension funds. However, as the article says “…paying public pensions straight out of [...]

What is the status of the health insurance bill?  I remain very concerned that this will be done in a way that allows municipalities to make unilateral changes in negotiated labor agreements — I gather that such a power is in fact a provision of the Senate bill, but NOT of the House bill.