Re-Indexing Public Pensions

Before embarking on a controversial expansion of the Canada Pension Plan, the Canadian government should consider Australia’s successful experience closing gaps in retirement savings through mandatory workplace pensions, according to the authors of a paper published Tuesday by the Fraser Institute. “The Australian model seems to show that there are options to expand pension coverage and increase retirement savings apart from raising the CPP,” according to authors Sean Speer and Jason Clemens.

In the summer of 2013, at a time when the topic of soaring US debt was still paramount to the US public (total debt is now a far more ludicrous, and gargantuan, $19.3 trillion but nobody cares since all the central banks are monetizing global debt at an unprecedented pace and investors are happy to frontrun them, thus keeping yields low) the US surprised everyone by "increasing" GDP, and thus reducing the debt/GDP ratio which was at about 100%, in a very simple way: it changed the definition of GDP, in the process boosting GDP by about $500 billion, or 3%, with the flip of

By James Kwak In the wake of the Detroit bankruptcy, Paul Krugman has a post pooh-poohing concerns about public pensions. His conclusion: “Nationwide, governments are underfunding their pensions by around 3 percent of $850 billion, or around $25 billion a year. A $25 billion shortfall in a $16 trillion economy. We’re doomed!” (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)

Robert Shiller, Yale professor, and founder of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index just appeared on CNBC to talk about the latest Case-Shiller report, which showed home price growth slowed some in July. Shiller also talked about the stock market.

Yale economist and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller is warning about the consequences of waiting too long to address rising income inequality.

A new and promising Dutch pension innovation is now being embraced in the U.K., and it’s all but certain to get a close look in the U.S. in coming months. Say hello to your likely future: the employer sponsored defined-ambition plan. The name doesn’t tell you much. It’s an obvious play on the two most common types of employer-sponsored plans: the defined-benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension, and the defined-contribution plan, most commonly a 401(k). By now, most people understand that employers generally have swapped out their traditional pensions for 401(k) plans.

A new and promising Dutch pension innovation is now being embraced in the U.K., and it’s all but certain to get a close look in the U.S. in coming months. Say hello to your likely future: the employer sponsored defined-ambition plan. The name doesn’t tell you much. It’s an obvious play on the two most common types of employer-sponsored plans: the defined-benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension, and the defined-contribution plan, most commonly a 401(k). By now, most people understand that employers generally have swapped out their traditional pensions for 401(k) plans.

On Monday, Spain reported that its debt-to-GDP ratio would hit 100% in 2014. Spain's public debt will soar to nearly 100 percent of output at the end of 2014, the government said Monday, despite massive spending cuts that have triggered angry street protests.