Pensions

Divest Our Pensions sign

Is the General Treasurer divested of fiduciary responsibility?

By Justin Katz | April 22, 2021 |

I ask because in a new press release from Rhode Island’s General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, the progressive Democrat announces his office’s step to divest the state pension fund of investments in fossil fuels: This morning, in advance of Earth Day, Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner announced a nearly 50 percent decrease in the Rhode…

Woonsocket Matters to Rhode Island and the Nation

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2013 |

John Hill’s Providence Journal article about Woonsocket’s deficit problem contains two important lessons … The first lesson is that everybody who’s interested in these topics should read the Ocean State Current. An article here from last May explains the problem … … the second lesson of the article: The public is being poorly served by…

Things We Read Today (44), Wednesday

By Justin Katz | December 19, 2012 |

Government’s corrupt pension handling; the discount rate scam; fighting off the zoning inspector; government peeking doesn’t count as privacy invasion. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

How Do You “Mediate” A State Law?

By Monique Chartier | December 19, 2012 |

… that, slightly rephrased, was the reaction via Twitter last night of John Ward to the news that Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter on Tuesday ordered the state and the coalition of public employee unions challenging the General Assembly’s overhaul of their retirement system to meet with federal mediators and see if a settlement can…

Things We Read Today (43), Tuesday

By Justin Katz | December 18, 2012 |

Explaining Rhode Island’s decline in four brief sections: legal process, the economy, the media, and fashionable graft. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

Things We Read Today (39), Thursday

By Justin Katz | December 6, 2012 |

Critical thinking sexism in Providence schools; a masculine career in disability; indoctrination; gambling on the law; an earnest pun. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

10/25/12 – Brown University Municipal Pension Panels

By Justin Katz | October 26, 2012 |

4:04 p.m. With my second fortunate parking experience in Providence this week, having found a parking meter that was already almost at 2 hours time, I’ve settled in for a rousing discussion of municipal pensions at Brown University’s Salomen Center, hosted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

Things We Read Today (16), Friday

By Justin Katz | September 21, 2012 |

The narrative of the candidates; death panels and pension boards; the endgame of government debt; an enemies list. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

Things We Read Today (13), Tuesday

By Justin Katz | September 18, 2012 |

Days off from retirement in Cranston; the conspiracy of low interest rates; sympathy with the Satanic Verses; the gas mandate; and the weaponized media. Continue reading on the Ocean State Current…

The Risk of Investment Promises May Be Unhedgeable

By Justin Katz | August 29, 2012 |

Early in the summer, Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo announced that the state had invested $900 million of its pension assets in hedge funds.  The decision was actually made in the middle of last year, in response to an asset liability study, treasury spokeswoman Joy Fox tells the Current.  At that point, the treasurer began…