Thread by @yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ is into labour economics!
The three amigos (@jackmintz and those two other guys) have been publishing op-eds galore in @postmedianet papers. You might want to read this too: #ABLeg

competeprosper.ca/blog/public_se…

The three amigos repeat each other's talking points and (what I think) is a 2013 Fraser Institute report. They make conclusions that are not reasonable, to wit, public sector workers make more than private sector workers. #ABLeg #handsoffmypension

After this came out even the Fraser Institute admitted that using the Labour Force Data instead of the census data was a serious error. (the admission is still on the FI website) Read this too:

afl.org/reality_check_…

The other serious error is how they treat groups like teachers or police officers or soldiers where the vast majority of the occupational grouping work for the government. Several other serious, as in they affect the validity of the conclusions, exists as well. #ABLeg

To compaare groups like these with a minimum amount of intellectual honesty here is the accepted methodology:

"the average public sector worker earns 20.4% less in the public sector than they would earn in the private sector doing the same job with the same set of skills." #ABLe

Combine that with a few mistakes and oversights (@jkenney once quoted max teacher pay as the average) and you get the post-truth world that we currently live in.

The facts have to matter in any democratic society. #ABLeg

What does this have to do with pensions? Well, everything it seems. Because the amigos all quote the Fraser talking points about defined benefit plans being bad. Verbatim. They seem to have many different types of envy. Pension envy looms large in this situation. #ABLeg #size

They seem to have beliefs about public sector pensions in general that, well, aren't true. The amigos generally commit errors of omission. They don't mention that employees contribute as much or more than employers do which mirrors the contribution pattern of DC plans. #ABLeg

They cry that DC plans have gone down in value with the pandemic, but don't mention that risk pooling is actually the great advantage of DB plans. (DB plans have taken a hit too but retirement is a long game.) #ABLeg

The amigos seem certain that any DB shortfall would rest solely with government. Every plan I know is bound by law to pay off deficiencies with the same (50/50) contribution scheme. They also seem to think pension contributions belong to the government. #ABLeg

They fail to note that, like DC plans, once contributions are made the money is held in trust for the employees benefit. They also fail to mention that, if history serves any guide, that government interference in the management of pension plans is the biggest risk. #ABLeg

Like, for instance, mandating that plans use one and only one substandard investment manager. #sicburn In fact, Travis should encourage joint sponsorship as a method of risk sharing. Instead he does not seem to know what risk is. #ABLeg

I will put this right here. AIMCO has lost a lot of money on Pieridae over the years. #ABLeg You and I are big shareholders.

theprogressreport.ca/aer_denies_sal…