Outrageous public pensions could bankrupt these states

By Steven Malanga  |  The Fiscal Times  |  March 31, 2015

Some of the worst public-sector pension problems in America are playing out in states and cities where legislation or local court rulings have granted extraordinary protections to workers’ retirement benefits—far beyond those enjoyed by private-sector employees.

Illinois officials, for instance, are awaiting a ruling from the state’s Supreme Court on a suit by workers seeking to overturn the legislature’s 2013 pension reforms. If the court, which has previously refused to allow any changes to retirement plans for retirees or current workers, throws out the reforms, Illinois will face $145 billion in higher taxes over the next three decades just to pay off the debt, according to a report by the Civic Committee of Chicago.

One can see a glimpse of Illinois’s possible future in Arizona. Last year, the state’s Supreme Court overturned 2011 pension reforms that, among other things, sought to curb expensive annual cost-of-living increases for judges, legislators, and municipal public-safety workers. Though courts in other places have ruled that retirees have no right to annual cost-of-living increases, the Arizona high court ordered the state to reinstate the 4 percent increases and pay retirees back for payments that the pension system had missed. In restoring the payments, the court ignored the distress of the pension system, which is only 67 percent funded.

Indeed, the system is so hard-pressed that the head of one of the state’s largest public unions has asked the legislature to push for a constitutional amendment allowing the kind of money-saving changes that the court nixed. Without such changes, according to the Arizona Republic, some retirees will wind up earning more within a few years of retirement than they earned while working full-time for government.

An Olympic athlete and entrepreneur shares his 8 keys to success

By Kathleen Elkins  |  March 11, 2015  |  Business Insider

Lewis Howes was a two-sport, All-American athlete in college before pursuing, and achieving, his dream of playing professional football.

A career-ending injury in 2007 sidelined him from the sport early on, but it propelled him into a different arena: the business arena, which he quickly mastered.

Within two years, Howes launched and sold a seven-figure online media company, which aimed to help people grow their careers through a series of webinars, ebooks, and other online training materials.

Today he focuses on the success of others, and helps people make a living doing what they love. He also found a way to return to the competitive world of sports, and plays for the US Olympic handball team.

We asked the dynamic entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and athlete, to share his eight keys to success. Here's what he said: 

1. Have a clear vision.

"If you want to achieve success, you have to be clear on what it is you want first, and why you want it."

2. Learn to overcome adversity.

"If you want to achieve great results, there's going to be a lot thrown at you. If you buckle under pressure and allow the adversity to imprison you, rather than turn it into an advantage, you're never going to achieve success."

Simple, DIY Methods To Retire With $1 Million

By Karla Bowsher  |  MoneyTalksNews  |  March 31, 2015

Retiring as a millionaire is within anyone’s reach if they start young enough and can follow a simple recipe.

Last year, William J. Bernstein broke down one recipe in a 16-page e-book called “If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly,” which he made available free on his website.

But you don’t need to read his free book, or any book. Suggestions similar to those he makes have been made many times before by myriad people, including John Bogle, legendary founder and retired CEO of Vanguard Investments.

Here’s how Bogle suggests you invest: It’s an asset allocation method he calls “the majesty of simplicity.” You just divide your long-term investment money into three mutual funds:

• A U.S. total stock market index fund
• An international total stock market index fund
• A U.S. total bond market index fund

You simply put equal amounts into each fund. As they grow at different rates over time, you make adjustments to keep their values roughly equal.

As for how much to invest, Bernstein suggests 15 percent of your salary. Obviously, using tax-advantaged accounts, like a 401(k) or IRA is preferable, but the key is to put aside as much as possible.

That’s it. If you can follow this simple recipe throughout your working career, you’ll likely beat most professional investors, while keeping things simple. More important, providing you invest enough, you’ll likely accumulate enough savings to retire comfortably.

Five Ways To Push Forward When You're Stuck

By Mitch Mitchell  |  LinkedIn  |  March 31, 2015

We all get stuck sometimes. I don't mean getting your car stuck in the mud. I mean mentally stuck. 

Mentally stuck means you're not taking action. You're basically idling, doing other things instead of the tasks at hand. It feels bad, but it's also something that you don't think you can get out of.

I know this feeling. Many times I don't even know it's happening because the one thing I can always do is write. Ideas pop into my head, I write them out, and I'm done.

However, there are times when that's all I can do. I don't work on my business. I don't remember to eat, don't remember to clean the kitchen, don't remember to do laundry. That's what stuck does; it makes you forget everything else that helps to make you whole.

Luckily, when I do recognize I'm stuck, there are things I start doing that pulls me out of it. They allow me to push forward, to take action towards my goals. They help to get me out of a false comfort level, because it always feels good to "not" be doing something, but if it's not helping you push forward then it's not good for you.

To keep it simple, I'm only giving 5 ways to push forward, to get unstuck, and get back on track.

First, get out some paper and start writing things down. This might be a list of goals; it might be a list of steps toward a goal. It might be a list of things you want out of life. It might even be a list of the things you want to buy when you attain your goals. A grocery list doesn't count; this has to be a big time life action list, not anything relatively mundane.

Writing things down might feel like a chore, but it's actually cathartic and frees your mind. It also helps you focus on everything and you get to decide what's important and what you can put aside for a while.

FCC's Pai: Net-neutrality proposal is secret Internet regulation plan

By Jim Puzzanghera  |  Los Angeles Times  |  February 10, 2015

A Republican on the Federal Communications Commission blasted the net­neutrality proposal from the agency's chairman as a "secret plan to regulate the Internet" that "opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes" on broadband services. 

Commissioner Ajit Pai said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, was misleading the public about what's in the plan. At a Tuesday news conference, Pai held up a copy of the thick draft proposal and called on Wheeler to make it public before the agency votes on it on Feb. 26. 

"I believe the public has a right to know what its government is doing, particularly when it comes to something as important as Internet regulation," said Pai, an ardent opponent of net neutrality regulations. 

"I have studied the 332­page plan in detail, and it is worse than I imagined," he said. 

The FCC typically does not release draft orders until after they are approved by the commission. 

Wheeler has the authority to do so but FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart said he will not break with "long­standing FCC practice." Wheeler's proposal would impose tough new federal oversight of online traffic to ensure Internet providers don't give preference to video and other content from some websites over others. 

The plan would put wired and wireless broadband service providers in the same legal category as highly regulated telephone companies, although Wheeler said the FCC would take a light­touch approach that would not include rate regulation. 

Stop Making These 10 Dumb Money Moves

By Maryalene LaPonsie  |  MoneyTalksNews  |  February 25, 2015

You’re no dummy, right?

Then you need to stop making dumb money moves. If you’re not sure what those are, Money Talks News finance expert Stacy Johnson is here to tell you. Watch the video below to learn some dumb, but common, money moves people make every day. After the clip, we’ll talk a little more about each one.

Dumb Move No. 1: Carrying a credit card balance when you have money in the bank

Actually, we could have put the period after the word “balance” in the sentence above.

Credit cards are powerful tools and can give you some pretty nifty rewards, but it’s dumb, dumb, dumb to carry a balance. It’s even dumber to carry a balance when you have money in the bank.

Your savings account is making what, 0.1 percent interest? And your credit card interest rate is probably at least 10 to 20 percent, right? Mathematically, it makes no sense to leave that money languishing in your savings account. Of course, you don’t want to leave yourself without any emergency cushion, but you should think twice before joining the households that are carrying a credit card balance despite having plenty of cash to pay it off.

Dumb Move No. 2: Going into debt for items that lose value

A related dumb money move is going into debt for items that lose value. Buying a house with a mortgage can be a smart financial move because you can almost always count on it appreciating (i.e. gaining value) over time.

But think about your credit card debt. What did you buy with that money? Do you still have it? If you do, could you sell it for what you paid?

I’ll go out on a limb and say the answers to those last two questions are maybe “no” and “definitely not.” Rather than go into debt and pay outlandish interest for items that are quickly tossed or become worthless, save your pennies and pay cash instead. If you’re not sure how, you may be making dumb money move No. 10 below.

Oops—White House Loses $22 Billion on Student Loan Plans

By Brianna Ehley  |  The Fiscal Times  |  February 10, 2015

White House education policies aimed at helping borrowers with $1.3 trillion in student debt are gaining traction-- with enrollment in income-based-repayment programs doubling in the last two years. While the programs may be working to ease the burden for borrowers, it’s coming at a potentially hefty price tag for taxpayers.

Hidden in a footnote of the president’s 2016 budget blueprint, the White House estimated that it expects to earn $22 billion less than projected in student loan payments this year. That multibillion-dollar tidbit was first unearthed by Politico, which noted that the sum was “larger than the annual budget for NASA, or the Interior Department and EPA combined.”

The White House said the downgrade can largely be attributed to faster-than-expected enrollment in the president’s income-based payment plans like Pay As You Earn, which caps borrowers’ monthly payments at 10 percent of their income, then forgives the debt after 20 years of consistent payment. Originally, people could qualify for the program if they took out loans after October 2007 and continued borrowing through 2011, but Obama recently expanded the program to borrowers who took out loans before that.

In 2010, President Obama signed the Pay As You Earn program into law—but hardly anyone used it thanks to a less than impressive outreach campaign. In an attempt to ramp up enrollment in the program, the president used an executive order requiring the Department of Education to reach out to borrowers in danger of defaulting to tell them about all of their options—including Pay As You Earn. Participation ticked up a bit—but it was still marginal.

Records expose feds spending 'like they were reigning kings or something'

By Luke Rosiak  |  Washington Examiner  |  January 30, 2015

A federal agency that provides mediation services between companies and unions spent $3,867 on an ice maker, $303 for a Sears coffee pot and $24 each for desk calendars that Staples sells every day for $7.99.

Those were among hundreds on a list of the 220-employee Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service expenses obtained by the Washington Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act for 2012 and 2013.

The purchases - made with government credit cards - read like something out of the TV sitcom "The Office," whose characters spent more time on administrative tasks and self-pampering than they did actually conducting any sort of business.

The lengthy list includes lots of practical office items, but there are also some unexpected expenditures like the paintings of 17 past FMCS managers that hang on walls throughout the office. The agency spent $2,402 in 2013 because of an "additional request for portrait retouching for Scot Beckenbaugh," an FMCS deputy who was acting director for one year.

"They were actual artwork portraits," said former FMCS employee Tanya Pelcher-Herring. "These people got their portraits done like they were reigning kings or something. One portrait of a former director included his dog. In my 20 plus years of federal service, I've never seen anything like it before."

The agency also paid $1,325 for five pairs of headphones, $625 for a "diversity video," and $1,700 each for multiple employees to attend a "Social Media in Government Conference."

Among the purchases uncovered were several associated with a "Hallway Improvement Project," spearheaded by an FMCS employee who is paid $153,000. A consultant was hired to design graphics to enliven the office's hallways, which were then made into posters, at a cost of $3,803.

Jindal: ‘The Medieval Christian threat is under control, Mr. President.’

By Jose A. DelReal and Katie Zezima  |  The Washington Post  |  February 6, 2014

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is joining the chorus of outraged critics knocking President Obama for his remarks Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, accusing the president of failing to deal with “the radical Islamic threat today.”

“It was nice of the President to give us a history lesson at the Prayer breakfast,” said the likely presidential candidate, according to a statement first reported by National Review. “We will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control, Mr. President. Please deal with the Radical Islamic threat today.”

The president’s critics were incensed after Obama cited the Crusades and the Inquisition in his remarks, noting – clumsily, his opponents argue – that religion can be corrupted and inspire “terrible deeds.”

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history,” Obama told the group. “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

Those remarks have caused an uproar among some Republicans who feel the president’s comments undercut the spirit of the service.

Jindal also seized the moment to accuse the president of failing to deal with terrorism abroad.

The President - Entrenched in Denial

By Paul Dixon  |  30minuteview.blogspot.com  |  February 7, 2015

Several really unbelievable issues over the past couple of days solidify the fact that the President and his advisers are in denial or, at the very least, are not acting in the best interests of America when it comes to dealing with our national defense.  These strategies and responses are not comforting.

National Prayer Breakfast

First, at the prayer breakfast on February 5th, in response to the recent acts by ISIS, the President included the following:

"Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ."

To see the video, click here.

I cannot tell what message the President was intending to share, but, to me, he is saying that these barbaric acts are not really new, and, therefore, are not worthy of a response.

Secretary of Defense Senate Confirmation Hearing

Second, at a Senate confirmation hearing on February 5th, Secretary of Defense nominee Ashton Carter, in response to a request to articulate our strategy to towards ISIS, stated that we need to "have a lasting defeat" without addressing how this would be accomplished.

To see the video, click here.

National Defense Strategy

Third, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, in a speech to the Brookings Institution on Friday, February 6th, discussed our national defense strategy, a first since 2010. She included an increased focus on boosting cybersecurity, combating climate change and promoting gay rights around the world among our most important national security issues, with no major shifts in the military campaign against Islamic State militants or in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.  Our policy was described as "strategic patience."

To see the video, click here.

Listening to the speech, if I did not know better, I would think that there are no real threats out there, that the administration has everything under control.  It sounded more like a campaign rally speech than our national defense strategy.