OT... Mississippi's MPACT program is halted by State Treasurer Fitch..

[fishwater99]

http://www.clarionledger.com/articl...?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home&nclick_check=1


Tate Reeves is pissed off.

I have both of my children in this program, glad they are still going to honor the current my investment.


Mississippi is one of only a few that still guarantees the investments with the “full faith and credit” of the state, meaning taxpayers foot the bill if it goes under financially.

Fitch and others have stressed that those families already invested in the plan need not worry — their money is guaranteed by the state. Fitch said that’s part of the problem, taxpayers would be on the hook for millions if the program’s investments don’t turn around.

 

[RobbieRandolph]

Good. Until they can start hitting their benchmarks they need to stop taking new applications.

This is the fiscally sound thing to do for the state right now. The next thing we need to do is change the PERS system, but God help the public official tasked with that. He or she will have a nice 1 term in office.

 

[patdog]

Reeves can be pissed all he wants. Fitch did the right thing for the taxpayers of Mississippi. We're already $94M short of funding the plan's projected liabilities. So I guess I'll be paying part of your kids tuition when they go to college. You're welcome.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

PERS employer contribution increases are being planned...

Plans call for an increase from 12.93 percent to a 15.75 percent contribution rate.

 

[patdog]

Counting the employee's contribution, that's over 21% of salary going into PERS. The problem isn't that the contributions are too low. The problem is the benefits are ridiculously generous.

 

[RobbieRandolph]

Exactly. Benefits need to be trimmed. Again, good luck to that public official.

 

[Shmuley]

Dead on. That f'n 13th check **** has GOT to be dialed back. F'n ridiculous.

 

[BigMotherTucker]

Wow... I litterally got some literature in the mail yesterday to sign my little girl up.

 

[clintstone]

I agree it was the right move for the state, but had I known I would have signed kid up last week instead of waiting until next year. If they open it back up with no changes for a short window I am going to jump on it, because they are going to have to make changes soon to be able to sustain it.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I'm in PERS. The benefits are generous. And some things have been done like changing the time served as an employee to be partly vested in the system to eight years (it used to be four). I was hired well before then (I've been an employee for about 15 years). There have been people in my workplace who've talked in the past about taking early retirement depending on what happens. One thing's for sure-- if the employer contribution is going up by nearly three percent, I seriously doubt there will be pay increases for nearly any public employee this coming FY.

 

[RobbieRandolph]

It was enormously stupid of her to sign at 175k advertising contract for MPACT in June though**

 

[Xenomorph]

On the flip side, you've got some really good employees working in the system, when they could be earning a lot more elsewhere, because of the promise of the 13th check one day.

 

[Shmuley]

I completely understand that. I'm calling for an end to it going forward, not the vested people. Shut it down going forward for anyone not currently at 8 years.

 

[Snoop Dawg]

Lynn will probably move all advertising to promote the macs program which is a good program. Tater is pissed because he wanted Lynn to kick the can down the road and not let the cat out of the bag that MPACT was and is in need of an audit. He is whining that he didn't get notified. All statewide elected officials were notified, Tater was called didn't answer and didn't return the call. Gov. Bryant supports this move, good enough for me.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I think I agree with you-- though I am not familiar with the numbers. To cover those vested, you would have to lower the number of years in PERS to six years to cover all employees who hired under the old PERS vesting plan (the change to eight came as of July 1, 2007).

 

[patdog]

Exactly. He's pissed because he created a bad program for the state and he didn't want it exposed to the public how bad it was.

 

[Buford T. Justice]

So government came up with a program, it hasn't worked like they thought it would, and now the taxpayers are possibly on the hook for $94 million. Who woulda thunk it? Seriously, when have government programs ever financially worked? The Post Office sets their own rates, has a monopoly, and still can't make money.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

One quibble: The program was created in 1996

 

[patdog]

Congress sets the Post Office's rates. And with FedEx and UPS, they really don't have a monopoly. In fact, the Post Office winds up subsidizing them to an extent because they use the Post Office for some of their rural deliveries.

 

[FlabLoser]

Government collects taxpayer money to manage the taxpayer's long-term interests. Program collapses.

Wait, are we talking about MPACT or Social Security?

 

[Buford T. Justice]

Congress and the Post Office are both part of the same thing, the federal government. Therefore they set their own rate. I do agree about UPS and FedEx getting some of their business, so it really isn't a monopoly. However, I don't know of anyone who sends their regular mail (bills, Christmas cards, etc.) by FedEx.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

Businesses use Fedex and UPS to send regular mail all the time when time is an issue.

 

[patdog]

You said the Post Office sets its own rates. That's not true. It doesn't. Technically, they're not even a governmental agency. And there's a reason nobody uses FedEx or UPS for their everyday mail. They couldn't come anywhere near matching the USPS's prices. Given the constraints Congress has put on the Post Office (6-day delivery, several thousand completely unnecessary post offices nationwide, 100% current funding of all future retirement plan benefits (no other government or private pension plan is required to do that), etc.), I think they've done a pretty good job to not be in even worse financial shape.

 

[SwampDawg]

Isn't the 13th check just to cover inflation?

My understanding is that retirement benefits through PERS are to be adjusted for inflation, either through increased monthly benefits or through just one check at the end of the year, the 13th check. Social Security (yeah I know, it's circling the drain also) increases benefits for inflation. My plan through my company does not, and after almost 8 years in the system I am hurting. If the benefits are reduced by excluding inflation it will be a tremendous hit to future retirees and something for potential new hires to consider.

 

[mayhemdawg62]

If you are a MSU Alumni, doesn't your kid...

get any tuition waived?? I know they would still have to pay for books, meal plans, room and board. I've always heard that if you are an Alumni of MSU that some or 1/2 of your kid's tuition would be waived.

 

[johnson86-1]

I wonder how many people knew MPACT could simply return their money

if things went bad.

"It would have to refund others their money plus 'an additional amount in the nature of interest at a rate that corresponds, at a minimum, to the prevailing interest rates for savings accounts provided by banks….'
​

How bad would it suck to pay for tuition when your kid is a toddler, and find out when he's 11 that you only get your money back plus interest at a savings account rate (which would be damn near nominal depending on how long it's been invested).

You basically shouldn't invest in MPACT until your kid is within 5 years of enrolling in college, whatever that means. I'd be claiming my 7 year old was a damn prodigy and to expect a 12 year old enrolling in five years.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

The Post Office is about subsidized mail for rural America, not making money. If it costs UPS or FedEx $100 to mail a letter to Podunk, Alaska, then they tell you to pay $100 (or a bit more), or screw off. The Post Office charges you the 38 cents or whatever it is now. It's increasingly becoming unneccesary, but for hundreds of years the Post Office was a government program that connected our country on the cheap, in a way private enterprise never could have.

 

[MSDawg34]

It's increasingly becoming unneccesary

There is NO use for it anymore. The cost to the taxpayer isn't worth it for mail to Alaska. If you decide to live where FedEX or UPS or anyone else wont deliver you stuff at a price where people sending you the stuff can pay then thats your choice.

I say shut it down

Oh and your "in a way private industry never could"... Thats ********. Private industry connected us with the automobile, airplane, internet, cell phone, etc etc etc

 

[patdog]

Private industry connected us with the automobile, airplane, internet, cell phone, etc etc etc

Those things existed a couple of hundred years ago?

The cost to the taxpayer isn't worth it for mail to Alaska.

Clearly spoken by someone who doesn't live in Alaska.

 

[Seinfeld]

Pretty sure that only additional out of state tuition gets waived for that. So if you live in Tennessee, your kid can go to MSU at the in state rate, but I think that's the only benefit.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

You are correct.

 

[LiterallyPolice]

Wow... I litterally got some literature in the mail yesterday to sign my little girl up.

Literally, huh? As opposed to figuratively getting literature in the mail?

I'm gonna let you off with a warning. Don't let it happen again.

 

[seshomoru]

There is NO use for it anymore. The cost to the taxpayer isn't worth it for mail to Alaska. If you decide to live where FedEX or UPS or anyone else wont deliver you stuff at a price where people sending you the stuff can pay then thats your choice.

I say shut it down

Oh and your "in a way private industry never could"... Thats ********. Private industry connected us with the automobile, airplane, internet, cell phone, etc etc etc

You do realize that it is neccesary for people to live in those podunk places you are suggesting they don't. If you want oil, seafood, minerals, crops, etc., then certain people have to live that life that you just flippantly dismiss as a dumb decision. An organization like the post office helps subsidize people doing jobs you would find crappy in places you find crappy, all so you can have a more comfortable life. Welcome to the governmental teat.

It's like everytime a hurricane comes through New Orleans and all you hear is idiots questioning why people would live there. They live there because there a thousands of jobs feeding the country and moving products in and out of this country. That results in many more jobs serving those people. They live there because it's neccesary for them an all the rest of us.

 

[tenureplan]

This thread is going political in t - 3,2,1

nm

 

[DerHntr]

It only took being a member since Dec 2011 for your username plan to work fully.

 

[BigMotherTucker]

You're one of those people who hate when other people use literally in a sentence?

/strange

 

[EAVdog]

That's not the real reason the USPS is going broke though.

I don't even mind the USPS not being profitable. We don't ask for the Intersates to make a profit. I think having a functioning postal service is a part of a well organized society. They are going broke because the Bennies and Retirement the employees are getting are redonkulous!

I work for the Feds and my Bennies and TSP (401k) is cush. Not to mention my salary and hours. And I can't even come close to touching what USPS folks get. They have a whole seperate catagory just for them. The big difference is that they are Union, NALC and most other Federal Employees are not AFGE. Reagan busted up the Pension system after 84'ish so now everyone get's the TSP which works just like the 401k. Except the FED's will match up to 6% of your contribuitons which is pretty generous.

*I can say this because I've had enough and as dumb as it might be I'm getting back to the real world*

 

[EAVdog]

We should probably lock this up.

I'm in a story telling mood and I could get myself in some trouble with the stories I could tell from the inside.

 

[GloryDawg]

I agree with that. Any new hire should not be eligible for the 13th check.<o></o>

 

[johnson86-1]

You do realize that it is neccesary for people to live in those podunk places you are suggesting they don't. If you want oil, seafood, minerals, crops, etc., then certain people have to live that life that you just flippantly dismiss as a dumb decision. An organization like the post office helps subsidize people doing jobs you would find crappy in places you find crappy, all so you can have a more comfortable life. Welcome to the governmental teat.

It's like everytime a hurricane comes through New Orleans and all you hear is idiots questioning why people would live there. They live there because there a thousands of jobs feeding the country and moving products in and out of this country. That results in many more jobs serving those people. They live there because it's neccesary for them an all the rest of us.

It's not necessary for the post office to subsidize people in those out of the way places. Their service may look different, but they'd have some type of mail service. If it was much more expensive, people would either get paid/earn more to account for that fact, or they would not, which would mean the service they were providing was not that necessary to anybody. Maybe there are other reasons to have subsidized service to those types of places, but it's not like it's really necessary for the rest of the country or appreciably contributes to the standard of living of those people not taking advantage of the subsidized service.