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The curse of the Gray PERL: Part 7, “CalPERS says the city would owe it $1.6...
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 6 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.] Now readers fully understand, as laid out by Stockton Judge Christopher Klein’s...
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The curse of the Gray PERL: Part 8, “Promises of higher pensions to get...
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 7 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.] Yesterday’s post having concluded with a Sidebar of Outrage over CalPERS’s...
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The curse of the Gray PERL: Part 9, “CalPERS has bullied its way about with...
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 8 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.] Finally, with all the proximate bankruptcy facts (explained in...
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Month in Review: May, 2015
By: David A. Smith There’s never a straight man in Monty Python — even if one character appears relatively sane, that illusion will shortly be upended. Too much bull? Similarly, voters in England who...
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Month in Review: June, 2015
By: David A. Smith Thought of the day, courtesy of my most faithful reader: If Vladimir Putin hadn’t wasted $50 billion (yup, billion) creating the instant-white-elephant of Sochi’s Olympics, he would...
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America’s Greece? Part 1, Bypassing the rights of voters
By: David A. Smith History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes – Attributed to Mark Twain No sooner had the cacophonous European financial orchestra put down its instruments after playing its...
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America’s Greece? Part 2, Shedding jobs for years
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] By: David A. Smith As we saw in yesterday’s Part 1, Puerto Rico’s insolvency is of roughly the same dimensions as Greece’s, but whereas Greece is temporarily in...
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America’s Greece? Part 3, Better hired at five than not hired at seven
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] By: David A. Smith As the two earlier posts have shown, Puerto Rico is insolvent, and in default, and its history of continuous budget...
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America’s Greece? Part 4, A friend of the debtor is a friend of mine
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 3 and the preceding Part 1 and Part 2.] By: David A. Smith In these earliest days of Puerto Rico’s unofficial bankruptcy, the offstage maneuvering is taking place;...
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America’s Greece? Part 5, Six for six on advantages
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 4 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.] By: David A. Smith By now readers will have gleaned that by contrast with Greece, which wanted its debts restructured...
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With any luck you’ll die soon: Part 1, Not dying on schedule
By: David A. Smith ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘how soon will they shoot me?’ The longer a retiree lives, the more he or she should save for retirement, so if you’d like to save less today, plan on dying...
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With any luck you’ll die soon: Part 2, Misunderstood or unread
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] By: David A. Smith ‘It might be a long time,’ said O’Brien. Yesterday’s post opened yet another chapter in the continuing unraveling of the pension-fund doublethink...
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With any luck you’ll die soon: Part 3, Providing cover for elected officials
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] By: David A. Smith ‘You are a difficult case.’ By now our exploration of yet another piece of the doublethink canon – the role of actuaries...
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With any luck you’ll die soon: Part 4, Misleading the village board
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 3 and the preceding Part 1 and Part 2.] By: David A. Smith ‘But don’t give up hope.’ The pension-fund doublethink takeover described in earlier parts would have...
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With any luck you’ll die soon: Part 5, A study in obfuscation
[Continued from yesterday’s Part 4 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.] By: David A. Smith ‘Everyone is cured sooner or later.’ As the preceding parts have shown, catastrophe being a...
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Fine for you but not fine for me: Part 13, I’ll be staying on you
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 12 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, and Part 11.] As established in the previous...
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Fine for you but not fine for me: Part 14, Some of the 60 police departments
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 13 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, and Part 12.] The Queen of Hearts...
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Fine for you but not fine for me: Part 15, I can certainly encourage it
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 14 and the preceding Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, and Part 13.] Yesterday’s...
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Month in Review, December, 2015: Part 1, Housing-fueled disturbance at home
By: David A. Smith Pagedale, Missouri, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia may seem unlikely peers, but aside from dividing up my entire December’s posts (a whopping 15 parts for Pagedale, a mere 8 for Saudi...
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Month in Review, December, 2015: Part 2, Housing-fueled disturbance abroad
By: David A. Smith [Continued from yesterday’s Part 1.] As shown in yesterday’s first half of the month-in-review, though housing is seldom the flashpoint for urban unrest, it is the source of urban...
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