States face their worst fiscal challenge in 25 years.
Richard Moore says the state pension system is in good shape, but unlike your 401(k), your IRA, or any other investment you track with Google, his office does not track investment positions on a real-time, daily, or even weekly basis. The most recent report is from September 30 – you know before the Dow lost 20 percent of its value last week and regained a portion yesterday.
Moore says the state’s portfolio had lost 12 percent of its value over the past year. Liabilities have not fallen by the same amount, so what does that mean for a system that had a 7 percent cushion last year? Simple math indicates it is likely at least 5 percent underfunded now
Don’t even ask about the state’s unfunded obligation for retiree health care. The most recent accounting we have of that is from December 31, 2005.
