Back in Rhode Island where they are still paying for Gina Raimondo's pension thievery.
I got sad news this morning that a terrible fire has destroyed the century old Harborside Inn across from the ferry dock on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island.
For the past decade our family, our kids, their partners and our grandchildren gather on Block Island at the end of each summer. It is a special place for us.
One morning, having lunch at the now-closed Finn’s seafood restaurant, I spotted Gina Raimondo walking in.
Not many folks from Chicago would recognize Raimondo, although she was Rhode Island’s treasurer, governor and now Joe Biden’s commerce secretary.
She got her start as a Wall Street venture capitalist.
I recognized her because I’m a pension nerd and Raimondo is a notorious Rhode Island public pension thief.
My family made me promise not to approach her to talk about pension theft.
I first heard about Raimondo from a blog post from my pal Glen Brown.
Glen wrote:
Raimondo’s solutions for Rhode Island’s shortfall of $7 billion can be summed up rather simply, however: suspend the cost-of-living increases and offer the state’s public employees a 401 (k) savings plan; raise the minimum retirement age (for full benefits) to 67 years old; increase public employee contributions, and press for a cut in the assured return on pension investments.
Twelve years after Gina Raimondo as state treasurer engaged in this overhaul of the state pension system, pensions remain a hot topic in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island retirees remain angry about the loss of an annual cost of living adjustment, other pension changes and the opaque nature of some pension investments.
Unlike what Raimondo promised, the funded ratio for the pension (encompassing state workers and teachers) has barely changed over the last 10 years, from 57.8% to 60.4%, according to current treasurer James Diossa’s office.
By the way, Illinois’ public pensions are only around 40% funded.
Diossa is now promising a pension system that is 80% funded in less than a decade.
But how is that possible?
For now, Diossa is championing a bill that would divert $15 million from the state general fund to give retirees, many who are struggling just to get by, a one-time payment of $500.
500 bucks?
Diossa like Raimondo claims that most of the information about pension investment, fees and returns on investments are proprietary.
That means they are secret.
But proprietary means that they are not secret to Wall Street investors.
They are just secret to pensioners whose pension funds are being played with.
No wonder Biden picked her as commerce secretary.