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Showing posts with the label Tier2

The $22 billion pension shortfall in Oregon: Unraveling the causes

The most frequently asked questions about the financial fiasco in Oregon's public pension system are: What happened? Why did it happen? Who created this mess? Here's a brief video primer on the key events leading up to the state's $22 billion pension deficit – an amount roughly equal to Oregon's general fund or about $15,000 for every household in the state. __________________________________________________________________ NOTE: The video uses a teacher as an example, but this is not a problem created by teachers, or any particular class of public employees. They just happen to be the largest group of employees with similar jobs, and school districts pay some of the highest contributions to cover their employees. It's also important to note that 2003 PERS reforms eliminated the use of the system's infamous money match formula for newer employees, and made other changes that are gradually reducing pension benefits to the neighborhood that lawmaker