6 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5,2016
Perspectives
Unfunded pension, health benefits undercovered story
SPl TATESVILLE — Judging by what
ma ^ es the front pages, the top of the
kz newscasts, and the list of “what’s
trending” on social media, North Carolina
politics consists of spirited debates about
House Bill 2, spirited debates about vot-
;ing laws, spirited debates about teacher
pay, and spirited debates about why we
aren’t talking more about HB 2, voting
laws, and teacher pay.
* All three issues are important and wor-
thy of attention. But there are others at
least as important and worthy of atten
tion. How about this one: Did you know
that, by some credible estimates, North
Carolina owes public employees some
$71 billion in compensation for which the
state has no money set aside?
I’m talking about non-wage benefits.
When they retire, most government
workers are expecting to receive a
monthly pension as well as supplemen
tal coverage from the state employee
health plan.
It’s been a key consideration for many
who might otherwise have taken a high
er-paying job in the private sector but
place a higher value on those promised
(and tax-advantaged) benefits.
To attempt to fund these benefits on
a pay-as-you-go basis would be
foolish, illegal, and doomed to
fail.
So, with regard to the pen
sions, North Carolina has used
taxes, employee contributions,
and investment returns to build
up a portfolio of assets with a
market value approaching $90
billion. Unfortunately, nothing
comparable has been done to
accumulate assets to offset the
state’s liability to pay retiree
health benefits. Virtually that
entire liability is unfunded.
And I’m told that, according
to a new state estimate, it is ,
now approximately $33.5 bil
JOHN
HOOD
lion, up from a $26.6 billion valuation
last year.
There’s still more bad news. That pen
sion fund of $90 billion comes close to
funding North Carolina’s pension liabili
ties in theory. But the theory the state
has been using - that the pension fund
will realize a long-term average rate of
return of 7.25 percent on its assets -- ap
pears to be far removed from reality.
According to Andrew Biggs, an Ameri
can Enterprise Institute scholar and
f ormer deputy commissioner
COLUMNIST at the Social Security Adminis
tration, if state pension plans
were required to use the same
rate-of-return projections that
private plans use, North Caro
lina would have an unfunded
pension liability of about $37.6
billion.
Just to be clear - that would
still give North Carolina, at
70 percent, one of the highest
funding ratios for state pension
plans in the country. But it
still represents a very big hole
in the state’s finances. Even a
, more liberal estimate, using a
higher discount rate, would
yield an unfunded liability in the many
billions of dollars.
The two candidates for the office of
North Carolina’s state treasurer, Republi
can Dale Folwell and Democrat Dan Blue
III, met in Statesville on Sept. 27 to discuss
these and other issues at a “Hometown
Debate” co-hosted by the N.C. Institute of
Political Leadership and the Greater States
ville Chamber of Commerce.
“The state health care plan is bankrupt,
and our state pension plan, one of the
largest pools of money in the world, has
tremendous headwinds that have to be at
tacked and solved,” said Folwell, a certified
public accountant who previously served
as a state representative and assistant sec
retary of commerce.
Blue, a bond attorney, agreed that the
unfunded liability for retiree health benefits
was a big problem, but said North Caroli
na’s pension fund was “95 percent to 96 per
cent” funded and getting “adequate returns
on its investments, although the last couple
of years have experienced a very dicey mar
ket.” He called for “incremental change,”
not the fundamental changes Folwell advo
cates such as slashing investment fees and
building up state assets more quickly.
If you don’t work for government, per
haps you don’t think these matters don’t
affect you.
You are mistaken. If North Carolina’s
next state treasurer, legislature, and other
officials don’t take immediate action on
these unfunded liabilities, you’ll be among
those stuck with a larger bill in the future
- in the form of higher taxes and fewer gov
ernment services.
The stakes here are massive. Alas, the
media coverage is puny.
John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation.
Conspiracy theories are all around Trump’s campaign
Dear Editor,
I guess it was bound to hap
pen sooner or later. Unbeliev
ably, some idiot said that Donald
Trump’s campaign has caused
the outbreak of terror attacks in
the United States and it may have
gained some traction in Democrat
circles. After reading that comical
comment I decided to ask Google
for the skinny on Hillary’s fat fig
ure and this popped up.
Hey, sports fans and Conspiracy
buffs-Hillary’s lack of stamina has
spawned a whole new industry of
what may be wrong her all built
around her hacking cough and
other incidents that may be point
ing to some very serious health
issues. The following is just a sam
pling of what’s out there.
Here’s the craziest theory of
all times. Starting with Hillary’s
swooning and collapse at the 9/11
event and having to be removed
some people began speculating
that Hillary has died and there’s
two body doubles filling in for her.
Theorists point to how quickly
Hillary re emerged full of energy
and laughing as if nothing had
happened. Others say that they
shot her full of cocaine to get her
back on her feet. Whatever the
case Hillary had the most miracu
lous recovery of all times.
Here’s the best one yet. Theo
rists believe the Democrats plan
to replace Hillary with Michelle
Obama if she continues to perform
badly because Michelle would
win by a landslide. Barack would,
in essence do what no one has
done since FDR-have a de facto
third and fourth term as president.
Think of all the paradigms de
stroyed and the new ‘firsts’ things.
Then there’s the one that goes..
Hillary is near death and being
kept alive with medication and
illegal drugs and that’s why she’s
so fat. I researched her weight
and height and found she weighs
between 150-200 pounds and that
may signal diabetes or cancer and
the overnight weight gain is ede
ma-fluids that the body doesn’t ex
crete. That’s the main reason for
puffy eyes and swollen features.
All of the above is nothing more
than conspiracy theories but why
does Hillary have the glassy bulg
ing eyes and crazy head gestures,
cackling laughter and quirky body
movements? And why, at one
event did an aide need to grab her
by her shoulders and repeatedly
tell her to ‘keep talking’ and she
responded by laughing and say-
ing-’keep talking’-’keep talking’?
Don’t believe a thing she says
folks ‘cause Hillary’s no E.F. Hut
ton.
Calvin Lacy
Hertford
What’s wrong with message
of love, mercy?
Dear Editor,
What’s wrong with a message
about love, mercy and justice?
Ask Mr. Warren Boisselle and Mr.
Claude Milot, who both seem to
have a problem with that mes
sage of love, mercy, and justice
delivered by a man of God at the
Democratic National Convention.
I don’t get it, but then I don’t get a
lot of what Mr. Boisselle and Mr.
Milot write in this paper.
Nancy Theodore
Hertford
Community shows support in fight against ALS
Dear Editor,
We would like to thank ev
eryone who donated, worked or
helped in any way with our Jim
“Catfish” Hunter ALS Walk on
Sept. 24 and the Jim “Catfish”
Hunter ALS softball tournament
on Sept. 31-Oct. 2.
Thanks to the police depart
ment for leading and getting us
safely through the walk and the
rescue squad. We want to thank
the Perquimans County Board
of Education, Superintendent
Matthew Cheeseman and Perqui
mans County High School Princi
pal Melissa Fields for letting us
use the school facilities. ’Thanks
to Donald and Dina Hurdle and
Ashley and Brad Stoop for all
their hard work for the walk and
breakfast.
We had approximately 250
walkers and raised more than
$26,000 this year. Thank you to
team captains for getting your
walkers on your team and being
there for ALS each year. Many
thanks to all of our walkers and
ALS patients who turned out for
the walk. A special thanks goes to
all our T-shirt sponsors, Planters
Ridge for donating the flowers
for the walk, Kenny Hanes for the
Sunflowers and the Perquimans
Weekly for their coverage of the
walk.
Thanks to everyone who
baked, played, helped or do
nated to the ALS softball tourna
ment. The umpires deserve many
thanks for volunteering their
time. Joan Hunter, Guy Webb and
Keith Rountree did a great job.
Thanks to all the ball teams and
their sponsors for playing ball.
We could not have raised the
money for our walk without such
a caring, sharing group of people
in our area and all over the United
States.
The money we raise from the
walk and the softball tournament
will help support the ALS clinic in
Greenville, help with ALS patients
needs, wheel chairs, lifts and help
with research.
We are thankful that Wallace
Elliott, Jim Dixon, Billy Baker,
James Hall and Jimmy Baker,
who are battling ALS were there
to cut the ribbon for our walk.
Our prayers go out to all ALS pa
tients and their caregivers.
My family and I feel so blessed
to be living in such a great area
with such caring and loving peo
ple. Let us all pray for a cause and
cure for this terrible disease. God
bless each of you from the Jim
“Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation
and the Hunter family.
Helen Hunter
Hertford
The Obama administration is full of corruption
Dear Editor,
I don’t know about anybody
else, but to me the incessant ca
cophony in the media before the
first presidential debate was the
very definition of excess. I don’t
think the media could have placed
a greater importance on any event
short of the Big Bang. Unfortu
nately, its absorbed frenzy totally
obliterated another story of per
haps greater import: the Friday
night FBI dump of information
that revealed why Hillary Clinton
was never indicted (the Friday
night in question being just three
days before the debate).
The reason FBI Director James
Comey decided against recom
mending an indictment of Secre
tary Clinton - even after laying
out a solid case for it-is that it
would have exposed President
Obama as a direct participant in
the case, making him liable to
prosecution himself for a viola
tion of the law. The facts are re
ally quite simple.
We all remember President
Obama announcing that he had
first heard about Hillary’s illegal
use of a private server from a
news story in the press. That was
a lie. We now learn from the in
formation turned over by the FBI
that Obama not only knew about
Clinton’s server, he sent classified
email(s) to her on it. Even more
telling, he used a pseudonym
so as not to be identified as the
source of the information. Ac
cording to former federal prose
cutor Andrew McCarthy, “He not
only engaged in the same type of
misconduct Clinton did; he en
gaged in it with Clinton.”
Are we starting to get the pic
ture? Had Comey recommended
a Clinton indictment, the pros
ecutorial process would have
revealed the President’s own
culpability and brought public
embarrassment to the President,
the Justice Department, and the
FBI. Hence, the need for a mas
sive cover-up, beginning with
“straight-shooter” Comey squash
ing the indictment.
The stench of corruption per
vades this administration. The
old saying has never been truer:
A fish rots from the head down.
Claude Milot
Hertford
The Perquimans Weekly
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