Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Whoa: Illinois Public Sector Retirement System About To Say Bye-Bye

The death knell just sounded for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), though to read the funny papers you'd never know it. Bloomberg (the news service, not the idiot mayor) reports the TRS just sold its assets to raise the cash it needs to pay retiree benefits. Executive Summary: Kerplosion.

Illinois’s Teachers Retirement System may sell $3 billion of investments to pay for benefits this year because the state can’t make its contributions to the fund, a spokesman said...

The pension plan sold $200 million of assets in July and $290 million in August, Dave Urbanek, spokesman for the $33 billion fund, said in a phone interview... “We understand from the comptroller that there is no money to pay us,” said Urbanek. “If we don’t get a state contribution, we will have to sell more.”

The fund was forced to sell assets last year, too, as it awaited a state contribution. That payment came after Illinois issued $3.47 billion of taxable bonds to fund its pension contribution in January.

In other words, last year Illinois had to borrow money to pay the TRS. This year, apparently unable to muster support for more suicidal borrowing, TRS decided to liquidate around 10% of its assets.

Look up unsustainable in the dictionary and you'll see this logo.

Of course, state law prevents any changes to existing retirement benefits, so the state is caught between a rock and, eh, another rock. Like that giant trash compactor in Star Wars, when George Lucas was still sane.

Leave it to Tyler Durden to describe the unvarnished reality of this debacle.

Two few months ago we disclosed how the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) was doing all it can to become the next AIG. In addition to, or maybe precisely due to, its deplorable fundamental condition, which can be summarized as being 61% underfunded on its $33.7 billion in assets... [now] the Fund is currently getting annihilated on its [Treasury] curve exposure...

...the fund has basically thrown in the towel and is proceeding with liquidations. The problem there is that due to its derivative exposure, liquidations now become self-reinforcing, as more cash needs to be pledged as collateral in a declining market, and the AIG death spiral we all know and love, follows.

...as the market continues selling off, the derivatives will require that more assets are sold, which will push the market further lower, which will demand further margin calls, and so forth ad Chapter 7.

As Durden concludes, it is simply too late for TRS -- and scores of other pension funds like it -- to recover.

Because it has begun liquidation, "extend and pretend" (i.e., kicking the can down the road) is no longer an option.

...For the sake of the 355,000 full-time, part-time and substitute public school teachers and administrators working outside the city of Chicago, we hope that the TRS has now been inducted into the hall of the Too Big To Fail, as otherwise roughly $34 billion in (underfunded) pensions are about to disappear.

So unless Congress launches (yet another) suicide mission related to funding Blue State failures with Red State revenues, Illinois' ex-teachers are in for a nasty retirement.

What do you say, Red States? Do you enjoy paying for the failures of Illinois, California and New York? If not, vote against every Democrat you can find in November. The alternative is more cronyism, more economic failure, and more misery.

Public sector unions and their cronies in the Democrat Party must be politically dismantled -- or it's all going to melt down -- in ways we can't possibly predict (PDF).


Oh, for Thomas Friedman to be in China for a day

Remember when The New York Times' token intellectual wanted the U.S. "to be China for a day [to] authorize the right solutions?"

A 60-mile traffic jam near the Chinese capital could last until mid-September, officials say... Traffic has been snarled along the outskirts of Beijing and is stretching toward the border of Inner Mongolia ever since roadwork on the Beijing-Tibet Highway started Aug. 13. The following week, parts of a major road circling Beijing were closed, further tightening overburdened roadways.

...Though triggered by construction, the root cause for the congestion is chronic overcrowding on key national arteries.

Gee, Tommy, isn't central planning kewl?

If we could only hand over the keys to our government to a bunch of Statist masterminds for a while, things we be soooooo much better. Like in China.

Oh -- you mean we did that in the 2008 elections? Oops.


Idea: Larwyn.

Andrew Sullivan's Worst Nightmare

Dan from New York:

Palin Rebounds With String of Republican Primary Victories


Scares the hell out of you, doesn't it Andy?

Wait. Just. A. Second.

Does someone look like she's showing?


So It Begins: DHS implements 'Backdoor Amnesty' and other startling immigration stories our beloved legacy media forgot to report

At the intersection of incompetence and ideology lies a crossroads called Legacy Media.

Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases


Critics assail the plan as a bid to create a kind of backdoor 'amnesty'

The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records... Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program...

"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.

"This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."

...Tre Rebsock, the ICE union representative in Houston, said even if the efforts involve only a fraction of the pending immigration cases, "that's going to make our officers feel even more powerless to enforce the laws."

Myrick: 'Homegrown' terrorists are working within U.S.


Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick warned a Huntersville audience Tuesday about the dangers of "homegrown terrorism" and new Iranian inroads into the Americas... [it was] when she was asked, "What keeps Sue Myrick up at night?" that her voice rose... "I'm extremely concerned about Iran and the situation in the Middle East," she said. "People don't want to face the fact that we have terrorist organizations operating in this hemisphere and this country."

Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she's disturbed by reported activities in this hemisphere by the Lebanese-based Islamic group Hezbollah, seen by many as an Iranian proxy... Myrick repeated what she wrote in a June 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: that Hezbollah has increased its cooperation with Central American drug cartels and poses a threat to security on the southern U.S. border.

Myrick said she worries about Iranians learning Spanish and slipping through the border.

But Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said Tuesday that, "At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest Border."

Myrick also expressed her frustration with the case of Samir Khan. He was the former Central Piedmont Community College student who ran a radical blog from his parents' Charlotte home... Intelligence sources said last month that they believe Khan is the top editor of "Inspire," an online magazine designed as a recruiting tool for the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula... The first issue contained elaborate graphics and articles titled, "What to Expect in Jihad" and "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.

Mexican Military Finds 72 Bodies Near U.S. Border



Mexican marines found the dumped bodies of 72 people at a rural location in northern Mexico following a shootout with suspected drug cartel gunmen that left one marine and three suspects dead, the Navy reported late Tuesday.

The cadavers of 58 men and 14 women were found at a spot near the Gulf coast south of the border city of Matamoros. It appears to be the largest drug-cartel body dumping ground found in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug trafficking in late 2006...

...The area has been wracked by bloody turf battles between the Gulf drug cartel and their one-time allies, the Zetas drug gang.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with international tourists... In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern city of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in violence tied to Mexico's drug war since the offensive began.

Perhaps one day, we'll open up our local newspaper to see all of these stories reported fully and accurately.

But, then, I'm a dreamer.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Porky Pig battles Arab Suicide Bombers... in 1941!

Hollywood touched upon some interesting cultural themes in this short cartoon film first shown in 1941.


You can see the whole clip at TAB. Somehow, I feel quite certain this is the fault of American intolerance. Or Israelis. Or Bush. Or all three.

A Turning Point for the Ground Zero Mosque?

Dan from New York writes:

All politics are local, and even though your president stepped into some serious NYC dog poop recently, that rule still applies to the Ground Zero mosque. Local political pressure is going to decide if the mosque gets built a punch ball's throw from the grave of 3000 victims of Islamic terror - and local political pressure is slowly building against it.

Yesterday, the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Democrat Sheldon Silver of NYC, came out against the mosque. Silver, little-known outside the state, is New York's most powerful politician. His opposition to the site could be crucial, allowing other state and city pols to slipstream behind him. Moreover, 9/11 is fast-approaching and so is a mega demonstration on that solemn day downtown. That should keep the pot boiling and their feet to the fire. All in all, with over 60% of New York voters opposing the mosque at Ground Zero, opposing the mosque is becoming the smart political thing to do.

Most important, this chain of events turns the table. It trains the spotlight on the stonewalling Imam Rauf. Is he the healer and good neighbor he wants us to believe he is? Is he one of us or one of them? Just where do his loyalties lie? New Yorkers (and America) should have our answers soon.


Larwyn's Linx: McCain's $21 million primary fight; The Phantom Priority

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

McCain's $21 million primary fight: Malkin
Palin Shocker: Miller Leads Murkowski: Surber
Boehner: Stop the Madness: Malkin

Avastin and Your Life: PJM
Welcome to Your Post-Racial Utopia: R&R
Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases: Chron

Economy

What’s the Second Coming of FDR Without a Depression?: Driscoll
Obama's failed stimulus cost more than Iraq war: Tapscott
IG: Recovery Act Propaganda Signs Were Required: PJM

The Phantom Priority: Doc Zero
AFL-CIO and SEIU team up on campaign spending: WashExam
Outing the Bagel Tax: TigerHawk

Climate & Energy

White House scrubs climate change promises, media mum: RWN
'Sustainable' Poverty: The Real Environmental Agenda: AT

Media

Obama and The New Yorker Team Up to Target Americans for Prosperity and Koch Industries: MagNote
#rsrh QotD, Jim Cramer is utterly mad edition.: Moe Lane
Glad That I Don't Live in Philly: Denny

AP 'Surprised' Palin-Backed Candidate Leads in Alaska: JWF
Predicting How The Soviet Union Would Fall Fifty Years In Advance: RWN
Apologia for the Left: AT (Lewis)

World

From Hanoi Jane to Imam Obama: AmSpec
‘Moderate Muslims Are Going to Be Pushed Into Joining Extremist Movements Like al-Qaida’: RWN
Imam Rauf and the State Department: The Truth About our Man in the Middle East: PJM

Obama speech will tout end of combat operations in Iraq: WashExam
Myrick: 'Homegrown' terrorists are working within U.S.: CharObs
BHP Sounds The Alarm On Global Growth And Commodity Prices: Insider

SciTech

Cybercriminals Bilked Calgary Company of $1.8 Million In Payment Card Scam: Dark Reading
Judge strikes down Obama’s stem cell research guidelines: WorldMag
DoD Publicly Cites Chinese Cyberespionage Against U.S.: Dark Reading

Cornucopia

1940 Toon: Porky Pig vs. Jihado-Suicide Bomber: TAB
“The Walking Dead” trailer somehow even more awesome than blogger hoped: Hot Air
Top Shot Season 2 - A little advice: Fix the logo!: Pupista!

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Support Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

In Touch: Deb Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) proclaims "the recession is over"

Rejoice, Floridians: just below this sentence and to the left is the kind of dynamic intellect representing you in Washington.

Interviewed on Fox News by Greta Van Sustern this evening, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D) told viewers that the Great Recession is over. Those were her exact words: "the recession is over."

This should come as uplifting news for business owners and the unemployed, all of whom are suffering through one of the worst fiscal downturns in decades.

Wasser-Schultz is one of the more outrageous Democrats in Congress -- difficult though that may be to believe -- for her serial policy failures. For months now, WaSchultz has been proclaiming the success of the Obama Democrats' economic leadership. Plus health care. She really likes socialized health care.

...Insisting that her Congress and the Obama Administration are focused on “job creation and turning the economy around”, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz unloaded a whopper of a claim. As she was directly asked about our nation’s 10 percent unemployment rate, Rep. Wasserman-Schultz made the very dubious assertion that, “On the pace that we’re on with job creation in the last four months – if we continue on that pace – all the leading economists say it is likely that we will have created more jobs in this year than in the entire Bush Presidency."

Did I just hear a lie detector explode somewhere in the distance?

And this is the same rocket scientist who claimed a few months ago that there was no individual mandate in ObamaCare, stating: "We actually have not required in this law that you carry health insurance."

Even fifth graders know that's a freaking lie.

So what can you and I do? Support Karen Harrington for Congress. Seriously, donate a few bucks.


Linked by: NewsRealBlog. Thanks!

Where is this protester?

Where is this protester?

Here are the choices:

• New York;
• Riyadh;
• Maricopa County, AZ;
• Tel Aviv.

I'll give you a hint: he's not about to be dragged off by Mutaween, and it's raining in the picture.

Hit it.


Ground Zero Mosque: The Last Laugh

Click the picture for the back-story.


Linked by: Don Surber. Thanks!