Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Trillion Dollar Question Behind Public Pension Funds
Public pension funds across the US are sitting on a collective shortfall in the trillions, and the way they count their money makes it worse. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the controversial 7 percent assumed rate of return — the number that lets a fund call a dollar today a dollar fifty tomorrow. They walk through how a one-percentage-point tweak changes a state's entire budget picture, why the math is so optimistic, and what happens when reality refuses to cooperate. With examples from Illinois to Kentucky, they show how the gap between promised benefits and actual returns…
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