“George F. Will: Facing up to a pension crisis - Buffalo News” plus 1 more

George F. Will: Facing up to a pension crisis - Buffalo News

Posted: 12 Apr 2010 08:58 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — A puzzle from Philosophy 101: If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? A puzzle from the prairie: If an earthquake occurs in Illinois and no one notices, is it really a seismic event?

Gov. Pat Quinn called it a "political earthquake" when the state's Legislature recently voted — by margins of 92-17 in the House and 48-6 in the Senate — to reform pensions for state employees. There is now a cap on the amount of earnings that can be used as the basis for calculating benefits. In some states, employees game the system by "spiking" their last year's earnings by accumulating vast amounts of overtime pay.

An even more important change — a harbinger of America's future—is that most new Illinois state government employees must work until age 67 in order to be eligible for full retirement benefits. Those already on the state payroll can still retire at 55 with full benefits.

The 1935 Social Security Act established 65 as the age of eligibility for payouts. But welfare state politics quickly becomes a bidding war, enriching the menu of benefits, so in 1956 Congress entitled women to collect benefits at 62, extending the entitlement to men in 1961. Today, nearly half of Social Security recipients choose to begin getting benefits at 62. This is a grotesque perversion of a program that was never intended to subsidize retirees for a third to a half of their adult lives.

It also reflects the decadent dependence that the welfare state encourages: Because of the displacement of responsibility from the individual to government, 48 percent of workers over 55 have total savings and investments of less than $50,000.

Because most states' pension plans compute their present values—and minimize required current contributions— by assuming an unrealistic 8 percent annual return on investments, the cumulative funding gap of state pensions already may be $3 trillion, and certainly is rising. For example, last Wednesday's New York Times contained this attention-seizing bulletin: "An independent analysis of California's three big pension funds has found a hidden shortfall of more than half a trillion dollars, several times the amount reported by the funds and more than six times the value of the state's outstanding bonds." The condition of the three funds, which serve 2.6 million current and retired public employees, is going to exacerbate the state's decline by requiring significantly higher taxpayer contributions.

A recent debate on "Fox News Sunday" illustrated the differences between the few politicians who are, and the many who are not, willing to face facts. Marco Rubio, the former speaker of Florida's House of Representatives who is challenging Gov. Charles Crist for the Republican U. S. Senate nomination, made news by stating the obvious.

Asked how the nation might address the projected $17.5 trillion in unfunded Social Security liabilities, Rubio said we should consider two changes for people 10 or more years from retirement. One would raise the retirement age. The other would alter the calculation of benefits: Indexing them to inflation rather than wage increases would substantially reduce the system's unfunded liabilities. Neither idea startles any serious person. But Crist, with the reflex of the unreflective, rejected both and said he would fix Social Security by eliminating "waste" and "fraud," of which there is little. The system's problems are the result not of incompetent administration but of improvident promises made by Congress.

By the time the baby boomers have retired in 2030, the median age of the American population will be close to that of today's population of Florida, the retirees' haven that is Heaven's antechamber. Rubio's responsible answer to a serious question gives the nation a glimpse of a rarity — a brave approach to the welfare state's inevitable politics of gerontocracy.

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Tiger Woods swears he is back in contention at Masters - Reuters

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 07:45 PM PDT

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - The fist pumps were back and so were the profanities he had sworn off as Tiger Woods showed both sides of his game and personality in a combative third round at the Masters on Saturday.

Sports

Fans saw the good and bad in a Jekyll-and-Hyde display by Woods as he returned a second successive two-under 70 to sit four shots behind leader Lee Westwood of Britain going into Sunday's final round.

Playing his first event since admitting to a string of extra-marital affairs that drove him into hiding for nearly five months, Woods had been on his best behavior since arriving at Augusta as he launched a major charm offensive in an effort to win back fans and sponsors.

Woods had pledged during an interview on Monday to give fans and the game more respect and try to tone down his anger and occasional profanity-laced outbursts.

But the 34-year-old American suffered a relapse early on in his third round, letting loose a string of profanities after his tee shot on the sixth hole failed to go were he had wanted.

Questioned about the outburst, Woods told reporters he was not aware of any swearing -- which was caught on television -- before offering an insincere apology.

"Did I?," deadpanned Woods. "If I did, then I'm sorry."

Woods certainly struggled to maintain the more even-keeled philosophy he said he would try to adopt as he rebuilds his career, enduring a roller-coaster third round that included seven birdies and five bogeys.

The four-time Masters champion was all smiles as his round began, two monster birdie putts at the first and third holes being followed by two of his trademark monster fist pumps.

But when his round began to unravel with a wayward tee shot on the par-three sixth, Woods unleashed a torrent of expletives.

Woods battled to regain his composure and his rhythm falling seven shots off the lead before getting back on track with three successive birdies from the 13th.

The 14-time major winner had another birdie to close his round before walking off the 18th green to wild cheers with a big smile across his face.

Woods later admitted it was a struggle to maintain his composure particularly with "three-putting every other hole."

"After what's transpired, to have that support out there is fantastic," said Woods. "I just wanted to put myself in contention, and I did that.

"After struggling just to fight back in the ballgame, the guys were running away from me there. At one point I was seven back.

"So to kind of claw my way back in there where I'm only four back right now, I'm in good shape (and) a good round tomorrow, you never know."

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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Philosophy

Monday, April 12, 2010