2013 0412 - Letter - AAA to WSJ, Wall Street Journal, Cecil Bykerk, President of the American Academy of Actuaries re: Pensions, Guessing - 1p
Cecil Bykerk: Those in the pension arena must come to recognize that appropriate pension funding is much more than an “actuarial problem,” and that it includes a commitment toward responsible governance of those plans.
It is time to challenge all stakeholders in retirement plans to engage in a thoughtful public discussion of the issues if we are to assure financially secure and sustainable systems.
2013 0409 - WSJ - The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy
Counting on 7.5% when Treasury bonds are paying 1.74%?, by Andy Kessler - [link]
Or as Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz told Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, upon learning at a 2011 House hearing about that state's unrealistic pension assumptions: "If someone told me they expected to get an 8% to 8.5% return, I'd say they were probably smoking those maple leaves."
2011 0414 - GOV (House) - State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead, Darrell Issa (R-CA)
(p35) - Jason CHAFFETZ (R-UT) - But the healthy over the course of time—if somebody told me they thought they were going to get an 8 to 8 1/2 percent return, I said they are probably smoking those maple leaves.
I can’t imagine that you are getting 8 to 8 1/2 percent return on that investment. Nobody is getting that kind of return right now.
...
Mr. CHAFFETZ. But do you think you are going to get that going forward?
...
Governor Peter SHUMLIN (D-VT) - We do. And that is why Moody’s and the other bonding agencies allow us to assume that rate of return on our investments.
We are not sort of making this up as Governors; that is what Wall Street requires us to do. It is based on history.