Month: March 2008

Pensions Ditching Treasuries, Setting Themselves Up For Fall

Well, we are now seeing the beginning of the collapse of pensions around the nation, it’s just not visible yet.

The pensions are dumping Treasuries in favor of equities, and probably other more volatile investments, in order to get better rates of return, because interest rates are so low.

The reason that this is happening is because they are underfunded, and so need to chase higher rates of return:

Philadelphia’s $4 billion pension deficit is causing the city’s retirement-fund manager to shun Treasuries at a time when the Bush administration needs him most.

Yields on 30-year U.S. bonds that fell to a record low of 4.10 percent this year are forcing pension funds to favor equities, corporate debt and commodities in an attempt to cover unfunded liabilities and meet return objectives of about 8 percent. Even the federal government’s own Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said on Feb. 19 that it plans to shift $15 billion to stocks from debt.

“The reality is there’s not a lot we can do”, other than buy high-risk securities to close a pension shortfall in a short period, said Chris McDonough, chief investment officer of the Philadelphia Pensions Department. The sixth-largest U.S. city will probably also issue debt, he said.

Fixed-income holdings at 1,100 funds fell to 23 percent in 2006 from 27 percent in 2003, said Dev Clifford, a consultant at financial market research firm Greenwich Associates in Greenwich, Connecticut. Results of a survey covering 2007 will be released this month and likely show that funds own an even smaller percentage of bonds, he said.

This is how a lot of pensions went pop as a result of the dotbomb bust.

On My Google Ads

I just glanced at my ads on the left hand column of my blog, and I noticed a little text ad from Humanevents.com talking about “Barack Obama Exposed”.

Let me reiterate: I do not vet my ads. Their appearance on my blog does not indicate any sort of endorsement by me.

The folks at Human Events are seriously delusional right wingers and their publication is six pounds of fertilizer in a five pound bag.

While I am not Obama’s greatest fan, I do not subscribe to the insane right wing smears from folks like this.

So, you can ignore the ad, or you could click on it, which would generate around a nickel of revenue for me and cost them some money, or you could leave and never come back.

I think that the first option is probably the most mature.

As to where the proceeds go, and at the rate I’m going I’ll get my first check around 2011, they will go to things like beer (or Slivovitz) for me, or taking my wife out to dinner.

Charlie’s IEP Meeting

Well, Charlie had an individualized education plan (IEP) meeting today.

There is consensus, that he should be moved from Forbush, a private placement to Chatsworth, which is in the public school system.

Charlie is on the Autism Spectrum (Aspergers), but he’s also talented and gifted, he rates at least a grade above his age in reading and math, and Forbush, with its focus on the more severely disabled, has difficulties in providing sufficient enrichment.

The problem is that Chatsworth is still building its Aspergers program, and he would be the only person at his level in the class if he moved in the next month, and since his issues, except for hand writing, are with social interactions, and not academics, he would either be alone, or in a class of 20+ other students (with an aide) if he went over now, so we are suggesting that it be done in September, while BCPS wants it sooner (they are paying for Forbush, which is expensive).

At this point, they want to update some of his tests, so that they can make sure that he is in a properly challenging situation, as he is scary smart.

It looks right now like he will be doing some more visits to Chatsworth to see how he handles everything.

One thing disturbed me at the meeting. His teacher looked so young. When did that happen? Teachers used to be older than me.