Another Manufacturer - Not coming to California

By Mark Sorensen on March 13, 2012 5:00 PM | 5 Comments

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Sport Jet had been seriously looking at possibly locating their manufacture of VLJ (Very Light Jet) aircraft to Chico. With the unfortunate departure of Aero Union from Chico Municipal Airport, Chico has some underutilized, fairly modern, medium sized hanger and office space on the flight line of a decent sized airport, along with an underutilized skilled aviation work force. 

Today, I received an email (below) from Sport Jet indicating that they decided to locate their manufacturing in Texas rather than California.
 
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Continue reading Another Manufacturer - Not coming to California.

Pension Liability

By Mark Sorensen on March 11, 2012 2:00 PM | 11 Comments
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In their March 1 Letter to the Editor, Abe Baily and Jim Gregg take issue with describing CalPERS pensions by the title of a Feb 16 Chico ER Editorial "Public pensions a taxpayer liability," and make interesting generalizations about past CalPERS  premiums, earnings and contribution rates.

CalPERS pension administrators, among other pension administrators, were grossly inaccurate in recent decades about what they forecasted they would be able to deliver in benefits with given levels of  employer and employee contributions. City, County and State agencies bought the sales pitch, and, as is now obvious, CalPERS grossly understated the true ultimate costs of their pensions. Managers, elected officials, unions, and employees should have questioned the math. State and Local governments have been hit hard by rising pension costs, made worse by rising health care benefits costs, and the falling tax revenues of a weaker economy.

According to one Stanford study, CalPERS pensions alone are underfunded by $290.6 billion, or about $24,000 per California household. Many want to argue about how to calculate the exact number (San Jose Example here), when the exact number cannot be known because it depends upon assumptions (AKA: scientific wild guesses) about future investment earnings of the retirement funds. We humans have always been notoriously imperfect at foretelling the future. Unforecasted economic downturns, such as our current situation, can wreak havoc on the actuarial math. This is exactly why Defined Benefit Retirement plans (such as the common CalPERS plans) have been widely replaced by Defined Contribution plans, except in the public sector. Neither CalPERS nor the public labor unions are enamored with the idea of increased disclosure of underfunded plans such as this GASB plan.


Continue reading Pension Liability.

Local Tax Proposals

By Mark Sorensen on March 2, 2012 1:00 PM | 3 Comments
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In addition to last year's Chico Sewer Users tax increase  <Read More Here> of $1.9 million, and this year's increase of another $1 million per year (sewer fees also support City Hall payroll and benefits), we have 3 other local tax increases being considered for the November 2012 ballot.    

Continue reading Local Tax Proposals.

Pension Earnings Dip Amid Gloomy Forecasts

By Mark Sorensen on January 31, 2012 9:00 AM | 11 Comments
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Pension Earnings Dip Amid Gloomy Forecasts

Local Governments - Exclusive -- 31 January 2012



The nation's two largest public pension funds last week reported slim annual investment earnings, CalPERS 1.1 percent and CalSTRS 2.3 percent, as experts continue to say hitting their long-term earnings target, 7.75 percent, will be difficult.

While CalPERS reported weak earnings in 2011, a prominent private-sector investment manager, Robert Arnott of Research Affiliates, told the board last week he thinks the most they can expect from stocks and bonds next decade is 4 percent.

Another major investor, Laurence Fink of BlackRock, told the CalPERS board during a similar educational session in 2009 that during the next 15 years: "You'll be lucky to get 6 percent on your portfolios, maybe 5 percent."....


.... The California Public Employees Retirement System board decided last March to leave its earning assumption unchanged at 7.75 percent, despite a recommendation by actuaries to lower the forecast to 7.5 percent.

Even a small drop in the earnings forecast could boost the annual employer payment to the pension fund. CalPERS, which may revisit the forecast in March, is not turning a deaf ear to the experts....



...  A Stanford professor, former Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, issued a report  last month showing what happens if the three state pension funds (CalPERS, CalSTRS and UC Retirement) earn the long-term historical average, 6.2 percent a year.

Nation said in a Sacramento Bee op-ed article the long-term "shortfall is $290.6 billion, or about $24,000 per California household. Like a mortgage accruing interest that's not being paid, that shortfall grows every day the problem is not addressed."...



See the full story at PublicCEO.com

City Budgeting Math

By Mark Sorensen on December 23, 2011 11:00 AM | 1 Comment
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Image Above: A collection of Franklin's. One Million Dollars Worth


    There is no question that the City of Chico has taken many steps to work within the revenue constraints imposed in recent years. But in the past 4 years the City has also cut its cash reserves in half, from about $11.5 million down to $6 million, and has also spent-down other smaller, specific purpose reserve accounts to back-fill the spending overruns.  
Continue reading City Budgeting Math.

Bleeding Green Jobs

By Mark Sorensen on December 5, 2011 6:00 AM | 5 Comments



Continue reading Bleeding Green Jobs.

Chico's Plastic Bag Ban

By Mark Sorensen on December 2, 2011 10:30 AM | 9 Comments




The subject is on the Chico Sustainability Task Force Agenda for
Monday 12/05/2011. 
Continue reading Chico's Plastic Bag Ban.

The Flow of Money

By Mark Sorensen on December 1, 2011 6:00 PM | 5 Comments
The Flow of Money 


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Continue reading The Flow of Money .

Trends in Lobbying & Political Contributions-2

By Mark Sorensen on November 28, 2011 10:23 AM | No Comments
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

HEAVY HITTERS

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012

LEGEND:   Republican    Democrat    On the fence


 
  		= Between 40% and 59% to both parties
= Leans Dem/Repub (60%-69%)
= Strongly Dem/Repub (70%-89%)
= Solidly Dem/Repub (over 90%)
RankOrganizationTotal '89-'12Dem %Repub %Tilt
1ActBlue$56,856,92299%0%    
2AT&T Inc$47,737,46244%55%
3American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees$46,366,65894%1%    
4National Assn of Realtors$40,823,77647%49%
5Service Employees International Union$37,634,11775%2%  
6National Education Assn$37,146,12982%5%  
7Goldman Sachs$36,046,45360%39%
8American Assn for Justice$35,021,30488%8%  
9Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers$34,445,37297%2%    
10Laborers Union$32,096,95088%7%  
11American Federation of Teachers$31,882,61690%0%    
12Teamsters Union$31,401,29289%6%  
13Carpenters & Joiners Union$30,784,25886%9%  
14Communications Workers of America$30,287,64894%0%    
15Citigroup Inc$29,068,28249%49%
16American Medical Assn$27,914,13540%59%
17United Auto Workers$27,540,15298%0%    
18United Food & Commercial Workers Union$27,509,30893%0%    
19National Auto Dealers Assn$27,164,45832%67%
20Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union$26,934,72798%1%    
21United Parcel Service$26,082,60336%63%
22Altria Group$25,509,25227%72%  
23American Bankers Assn$25,166,89039%60%
24National Beer Wholesalers Assn$24,509,04534%65%
25EMILY's List$24,312,04998%0%    
26National Assn of Home Builders$23,717,35535%64%
27JPMorgan Chase & Co$23,564,38150%49%
28Microsoft Corp$23,032,19354%45%
29National Assn of Letter Carriers$22,360,33485%10%  
30Morgan Stanley$21,474,84145%54%





Based on data released by the FEC on April 25, 2011.     http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php

Occupied

By Mark Sorensen on November 25, 2011 11:00 AM | 12 Comments
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In support of "Occupy" I plan to participate in "buy nothing" day on Nov 25. Which is pretty easy because I rarely purchase anything on Black Friday anyway. I dumped the big banks more than a decade ago, and I do have plenty of adverse experience dealing with corporate America. Oh, I could write a book. 

Corporation's sometimes greedy, insular and arrogant behavior is rivaled only by tyrants and governments. And almost any other unit of humanity that you can think of.



Continue reading Occupied.
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