Pensions

Earned Benefits, Core Benefits, and COLAs

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 13, 2011 |

Ian Donnis of WRNI radio’s (1290AM) On Politics Blog reports on a potentially interesting quote from Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo regarding the broad parameters of a pension reform proposal…State Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s pension briefing to the state Senate was nearing its conclusion this afternoon when she dropped a mini-bombshell in response to a…

From the End of the Pension Study Commission, On To???

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 12, 2011 |

Ted Nesi of WPRI-TV (CBS 12) has a review of today’s final meeting of “the Chafee-Raimondo pension advisory group”, which doubles as a preview for the General Assembly’s upcoming session that is supposed to meaningfully tackle the states’ pension issue. One theme that seems to be emerging is that reamortization is being considered, in conjunction…

The Scituate Pension Forum

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 8, 2011 |

The Scituate Democratic Town Committee held a forum on Wednesday evening, where Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, current Pension Commission member (and Scituate Resident) Ernest Almonte and State Representative Michael Marcello answered questions about pension reform. They didn’t discuss specific proposals that might go before the legislature next month, but Treasurer Raimondo did say…

A Statement and Prediction

By Justin Katz | September 8, 2011 |

Rhode Island lawmakers heard the following when they gathered for a preliminary shindig related to pensions: On Tuesday, [pension activist Diane Oakley, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security,] gave the lawmakers more reasons to think twice about defined-contribution plans: “If investment losses cannot be recouped by retirement age, they may delay plans…

Who Pays for Past Mistakes

By Marc Comtois | September 7, 2011 |

Generational warfare: It’s bound to happen here in Rhode Island with the pension crisis. It’s also happening nationally on the budget deficit debate with the new Super Congressional panel set to convene. Education Policy wonk Rick Hess offers his perspective: You’re either with the kids or with those rushing to the ramparts to defend retiree…

AARP as Full Subsidiary of Democrat-Union-Progressive Alliance

By Justin Katz | September 7, 2011 |

Given the popular impression of the AARP, I’d wager that this activity would strike most people as a bit like AAA advocating against a fuel allowance for state workers: The hand-wringing over Rhode Island’s pension crisis has the state chapter of the AARP so worried it has taken out a half-page newspaper ad and booked…

Walter Russell Mead on the Collapse of Rhode Island

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 6, 2011 |

Walter Russell Mead of

An Accidental Disability Pension for Leukemia?

By Patrick Laverty | September 2, 2011 |

I appreciate firefighters for the job they do. I have friends who are firefighters on various departments around the state and I try to ask them lots of questions to better understand their job. I can also appreciate the fact that it is a job that can lead to permanent disability through injuries sustained on…

NP School Committee Doesn’t Understand the Pension Mess?

By Patrick Laverty | September 1, 2011 |

While this doesn’t rise to the level of corruption recently seen in North Providence, one has to be left wondering if the North Providence School Committee “gets it”. Time and time again, we see where local school committees and town councils will negotiate contracts that are just unsustainable and unaffordable in the future. In North…

Woonsocket School Dept’s Balanced Budget: Savoring the Good Times – However Fleeting in the Absence of Pension Reform

By Monique Chartier | August 30, 2011 |

[Note: In the article excerpted below, the Woonsocket Call, bless them, is using the term “pension reform” erroneously. What they are referencing is the “proposed increase of employer pension contribution”.] [Note II: In the note above, the word “employer” is used as it has widely has in the indicated phrase. While technically correct, it is,…