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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: prometheus1976 who wrote (59846)	1/11/2010 2:04:52 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217836

The fate of the OECD: Majority old, conservative, anti-progress, intolerant. This article about Paris is emblematic of an world populated by a majority of MQs This Revelers See Capital’s Night Life Dimming By SCOTT SAYARE and MAÏA de la BAUME Faced with mounting noise complaints and fines, many Parisian bars and clubs are struggling to stay afloat. In the photo Parisians smoked outside the Zero Zero bar. nytimes.com

To: prometheus1976 who wrote (59846)	1/11/2010 7:29:45 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217836

US public pensions 'facing $2,000bn shortfall' By Francesco Guerrera and Nicole Bullock in New York Published: January 5 2010 02:00 \| Last updated: January 5 2010 02:00 The US public pension system faces a higher-than-expected shortfall of more than $2,000bn that will increase pressure on many states' strained finances and crimp economic growth, according to the chairman of New Jersey's pension fund. The estimate by Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey's investment council, will fuel investors' concerns over the deteriorating financial health of US states following the credit crisis and the recession. "State and local governments are correctly perceived to be in serious difficulty," Mr Kramer told the Financial Times. "If you factor in the reality of these unfunded promises, their deficits will rise exponentially." Estimates of the aggregate funding requirement of the US pension system have ranged between $400bn and $500bn, but Mr Kramer's analysis concluded that public funds would need to find more than $2,000bn. A shortfall of that size would force state governments to take politically unpalatable decisions such as pouring more public money into their funds or reducing pension benefits. Cities and states have already cut spending to close budget deficits. Thirty-six US states have plunged into budget deficits since fiscal 2010 began. Public pension funds do not use mark-to-market accounting, relying instead on actuarial numbers that average out value of assets and liabilities over a number of years - a process known as "smoothing". Mr Kramer's analysis used the market value of the assets and liabilities of the top 25 public pension funds at the end of last year. He also looked at market interest rates, which are used by corporate pension funds and are lower than the rate of return of about 8 per cent used by public funds, to calculate returns. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.