Readers who regularly visit our "In Today's Headlines" section at right will notice a piece from today's San Diego Union-Tribune highlighting the difficulties facing organizers who are trying to get a charter amendment on the city's June ballot to move most new public sector employees from defined-benefit pensions to 401(k)s.
There's a lot of interesting material there, but the UT also buries an important factoid, which doesn't appear until the 17th paragraph:
There's a lot of interesting material there, but the UT also buries an important factoid, which doesn't appear until the 17th paragraph:
Supporters believe the measure presents the best chance yet to solve the city's ongoing financial problems, the biggest of which is a $2.1 billion pension deficit.To paraphrase the president, this isn't an ideological conflict. It's math. San Diego's annual budget for fiscal year 2012 is $2.8 billion, meaning that the unfunded pension obligations are equal to 3/4 of what the city is currently spending on all public expenditures combined in a year. The status quo that is keeping the unions happy is also dragging this wonderful city into the abyss. San Diegans can't afford inaction -- otherwise, they won't be able to afford much of anything else in the near future.
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