Independent assessment: Wisconsin retirement system = one of the healthiest in the country.

[Hannah Bell]

Wisconsin’s pension system is on excellent financial footing and among
the healthiest in the nation, according to multiple independent reports
and an analysis by COWS and CEPR. These reports show that the WRS
has consistently contributed 100 percent of the amount of money that actuaries
calculate is needed each year. As a result, while the fund’s holdings dipped during
2008 due to stock market losses, it remains one of the most solid in the country
and has enough funds to cover the promises made not only to current retirees
but to those in the future. A report by the nonpartisan Pew Center for the States
concluded that Wisconsin is a “national leader in managing its long-term liabilities
for both pension and retiree health care.”1


Nonetheless, conservatives inexplicably continue to imply that the fund is in trouble,
and Gov. Walker has proposed reforming the pension system to increase public
sector workers’ pension contributions, a change some experts see as a first step
toward dismantling the state’s current system and moving to a 401(k)-style defined
contribution system.2

http://www.cows.org/pdf/bp-WRS.pdf

[Blue Owl]

1. All the more reason for Scott Focker to forcibly rape it

Looks like Focker's gonna trash the state as much as he possibly can before The Great Recall.

[notadmblnd]

2. more reason for them to ruin it, I guess.

:shrug:

[drm604]

3. I think Walker is planning to raid the funds.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x533012

[w4rma]

7. That's a lot of money that could otherwise be in the hands of some billionaire thief. (nt)

[xchrom]

4. The 'health' is the reason for wanting to get at the funds. Nt

[Starry Messenger]

5. k&r

[speltwon]

6. This is true. So is WA state, and I have the recent report

We are at 118% funding. Models generally say that you should have at least 80%, assuming a decent rate of return, that is sufficient for future retirees. At 118% we are VERY well off. There are some states that are in awful condition, but neither WA nor WI are two of them. Granted the recent HUGE runup in the stock market (dow from <7k to 12k) has made a significant boost in the holdings.