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Private organizations eligible for public pensions?

Reduce Government Spending, Transparency and AccountabilityBy Jim Waters April 10, 2013

Kentucky taxpayer money is being wasted

Why are private-sector workers receiving public pensions?

Imagine a world in which the employees of nonpublic entities are not allowed to be a part of the state’s public pension system. In this world, taxpayers are not footing the retirement package bill for private organizations’ workforce.

Wait, you didn’t know that Kentucky has private organizations enrolled in the public pension system?

If not, I suppose you are not aware that the Commonwealth Credit Union, Kentucky League of Cities and Kentucky Association of Counties are among 1,701 nonpublic entities whose employees are eligible for taxpayer funded pensions.

This is a great deal for these organizations and a lousy one for Kentucky taxpayers.

Why has this gone on for so long? What interests allowed this happen in the first place?

With the commonwealth’s public pension system suffering from a $34 billion unfunded liability, the last thing it should have to sustain are the retirement plans of private-sector workers. Kentucky’s taxpayers and state workers — whose retirement plans are jeopardized by this — deserve better.

Learn more about solving Kentucky’s public pension crisis here.

Bluegrass Institute congratulates the commonwealth’s national champions

NewsBy Jim Waters April 9, 2013

The Bluegrass Institute would like to send sincere congratulations to the University of Louisville Cardinals for bringing home their first NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship in more than 25 years. This adds to the commonwealth’s championship accolades, being the second national title in as many years as the University of Kentucky won last year’s title.

We are, of course, proud of the way these teams represent the Bluegrass State on the national stage.

Just like the commonwealth’s basketball teams, we at the Bluegrass Institute are working hard to win important policy battles on behalf of taxpayers. Our goal is for Kentucky to have the freest markets, smallest government and a maximum amount of individual liberty.

Whether it be this year’s victory in bringing transparency to Kentucky’s special taxing districts, our decade-long campaign to bring true educational choice to Kentucky families, or our on-going pledge to hold legislators accountable for their public pension plundering, the Bluegrass Institute will continue to champion the causes of liberty, thanks to the generous support of like-minded Kentuckians.

The Iron Lady passes, but ‘Iron Patriots’ needed in Kentucky

NewsBy Jim Waters April 9, 2013

It is with great sadness that we at the Bluegrass Institute mourn the loss of a great champion of free markets and liberty, might we even call her a patriot. Lady Margaret Thatcher passed away on Monday.

“I can’t bear Britain in decline, I just can’t,” Lady Thatcher said in an interview shortly before her election as prime minister 32 years ago.

How much many of us can relate to that one statement. I know I can. I can’t bear a Kentucky in decline or a U.S. in decline. As a free people, we’re not made to decay, decline and rot. It’s not in our DNA. Liberty demands that we strive, change and grow anew.

Lady Thatcher stepped up to lead a Great Britain that was so much in decline that the nation was called the “Sick Man of Europe.” The Iron Lady stepped forward to lead a nation forward.

Here in Kentucky, we might look to her life for renewed resolve and renewed purpose as “Iron Patriots.” Today, Kentucky has been called the “Greece of surrounding states,” a “sinkhole state” and a “death spiral state.” Let’s stand up as “Iron Patriots” for, as she said, there can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

In May 2010, the Bluegrass Institute had the pleasure of hosting John Blundell, confidante to Lady Thatcher. You can view that speech here.

-Kelly Smith

Even ‘Highly Motivated’ students not ready for college – NPR

Education, NewsBy Richard Innes April 8, 2013

Some of the key comments from the NPR broadcast:

• 40% of community college students need remedial courses

• College freshmen don’t know how to study

• No passion for learning

• Big gap between K – 12 and Higher Ed (in 2012 less than half of Kentucky’s public high school graduates were ready for math and reading requirements in Kentucky’s public university system. See: Kentucky Department of Education News Release 12-056)

Click the play button to hear the National Public Radio report:

By the way, there are some answers to improve the situation. One of the best is the AdvanceKentucky Advance Placement program, which is going to be reviewed Wednesday at the Kentucky Board of Education meeting. I’ll have more after that meeting.

Letter: The “Greed Bill”

Reduce Government Spending, Transparency and AccountabilityBy Jim Waters April 8, 2013

The following letter regarding legislative pension abuse was recently published by the Courier-Journal:

The ‘Greed Bill’

Would you like to have the power to determine your own retirement package at work? I’m sure you would. But would it be fair? Probably not. In 2005, the Kentucky General Assembly asserted that power in House Bill 299 that later became known as the “Greed Bill” because it enhanced legislators’ pensions far beyond the bill’s original intent.

For instance, HB 299 introduced the practice of “reciprocity,” which allows legislators to calculate their legislative pensions on their full-time salaries in other state or local government jobs rather than on their part-time compensation as lawmakers. This often results in part-time politicians getting super-sized pensions. Former Senate President David Williams recently accepted a judgeship offered to him by Gov. Steve Beshear. Williams’ new position has a much higher annual salary which HB 299 allows him to apply to his high-three year calculation to fatten his legislative pension.

“Reciprocity” provides an avenue for pension abuse by lawmakers. Until the very lawmakers who voted themselves a taxpayer-funded golden parachute are willing to address the problem by repealing HB 299, how can Kentuckians take their promises to reform the public pension system seriously?

Read more about Kentucky’s pension crisis and steps toward solving the problems here.

BIPPS on WVLK’s ‘Kruser and Krew’

Reduce Government Spending, Transparency and AccountabilityBy Jim Waters April 8, 2013

Today at 1 p.m., Bluegrass Institute President Jim Waters will be discussing the Bluegrass Institute’s new pension report on WVLK’s ‘Kruser and Krew.’ Be sure totune in and hear proposed free-market solutions that include making Kentucky’s public pension system transparent and eliminating the part-time politicians’ pension system.

“Future Shock Solutions: 16 steps to treat Kentucky’s public pension ailment,” a new report by the Bluegrass Institute, stands in stark contrast to the few, and minor, steps taken during the just-completed session of the Kentucky General Assembly to address the public retirement systems’ $34 billion unfunded liability.

Listen here.

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