This time he suggests that the amount retirees’ cost of living
adjustment was slashed might be just enough to afford the new fees being paid
to the venture capitalists and hedge fund managers with whom Raimondo gambled
the state’s pension fund.
The so-called “reforms” of the state pension in the Rhode Island
Retirement Security Act of 2011, which include slashing the COLA, I’m told are
projected to save $2.9 billion over 20 years. Suspension of the COLA is
estimated to represent $2.3 billion of that savings.
I can tell you where that COLA savings is going—into the already-stuffed pockets of Wall Street’s most highly-compensated gamblers—almost dollar-for-dollar. By my estimate, $2.1 billion in fees (out of the $2.3 billion in COLA savings) will be paid by the pension to hedge, private equity and venture capital tycoons. That’s some “reform.” No wonder Wall Street is so eager to support this shameless public pension money grab.
Here are his other posts on Raimondo’s pension work:
Bob Plain is the editor/publisher of
Rhode Island's Future. Previously, he's worked as a reporter for several
different news organizations both in Rhode Island and across the country.
