File this under future amygdala:
Millions of Americans are expecting to receive a pension from the city or state that employs them. Many will be in for a terrible surprise, according to the nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting.
It surveyed 237 municipal pension plans across the country…
This newly collected data should be frightening to those counting on a state or municipal pension…
Of the 237 cities studied, 29 received an “F” grade, reflecting a funding ratio of less than 35 percent…
Based on the size of its unfunded pension liabilities, Chicago is in the worst shape, with more than $62 billion worth of unfunded pension promises. Chicago has less than 33 cents set aside for every dollar promised.
The Chicago Municipal Employees plan is estimated to run out of assets in seven years, since it is only 20.3 percent funded. The police fund (funded at 25.4 percent) and the firefighter’s fund (funded at 21.7 percent) will not be far behind. The Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund is in slightly better shape with 51.6 percent funding…
At another extreme, Portland, Ore., has set aside less than 1 percent of what it needs to pay its $2.9 billion of pension promises…
Obviously, there are a lot of unfunded promises in America. The largest come from the federal government and are related to Social Security and military and federal worker retirement pension plans.
Notice it is all the r-strategist areas, where resources are most flush, where pensions are failing. r-strategists base their strategy on leveraging the moment against the future. It is all a short-term strategy, and even their wealth is no hedge against the long-term failure their strategy is guaranteed to produce. If you are in one of those areas, look to see if you can somehow lateral to a more K-selected area.
When this hits, it will not only be shortage and dopamine deficiency. It a stressful circumstance, a moral violation, an unusual occurrence, and a violation of expectation. All of that equals maximal amygdala activation, right at the moment the government will be teetering due to its own economic collapse.
All it will take is one card being pulled and the entire house of economic cards is all coming down at once, with maximal effect.
Tell everyone about r/K Theory, because it is all coming down the moment the first shoe drops
[…] Pensions Are Going Down All Over […]
I suspect many municipalities will try to tax their way out of the problem. They will eventually learn that they cannot, but not before many people lose their homes to the tax man.
Municipalities will just stagger the way pensions are paid out. For example in Chicago all the Daly/Emmanuel friends will know when to move pension plans into a secure private fund. Police will be allowed their own city/private partnership fund, that will just seize assets from business owners in Cook County- destroying the areas economy further. Old geezers will just stop getting checks (what a bunch of 80 years olds are going to riot?). The firefighters and teachers union will all be left in the cold. Just before the city goes bankrupt the Rahm and the Daly’s will be in the South Pacific or Chile. And it will be happening in every major city in America. This would kick the can down the road to about 2030 though.