No, PERA is the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association, and I am about as inactive a member as you can be, not having worked for the state in 20 years, and having had absolutely no money in its pension fund for the same amount of time.
Rantito: Like a lot of public employee pension funds, PERA is in the hole. Way in the hole, like $23 billion worth. This is because PERA, like a lot of public employee pension funds, did stupid shit like counting on an eight percent ROI, making "unfunded cost-of-living adjustments," and, if Denver radio yakker Mike Rosen is right, making some pension increases retroactive. So dumb.
Interesting fact or figure from the EDNews piece: "But between 2000 and 2011, contributions from state and local governments fell short by $3.5 billion and investments fell short over the same period. Investments in pension plans grew by 4.5 percent when they needed to grow by 8.4 percent, [some wonk] said."
Interesting fact or figure from the EDNews piece II: "A pessimistic analysis foresees the gap could grow to $35 billion, while more upbeat forecasts calling for 9.5 percent annual returns on plan investments mean a $14.5 billion unfunded liability."
Interesting use of a once-hip word: "There is substantial evidence people value current wage more than they value deferred compensation,” [some other wonk] said. “The state has a limited number of compensation dollars that have to be divided. I would encourage you to think holistically about the compensation dollars being offered.”
