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33 Matching News Items

1.  A Lesson from the Crash of 2008: The Misguided Paternalism of the Qualified Default Investment Alternative
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Sept. 23, 2008
Excerpt: In this article, [Edward] Zelinsky discusses the federal government's promotion of common stock investments for 401(k) participants. He suggests that, in light of the Crash of 2008, that promotion constitutes misguided paternalism.
2.  Presidential Pensions as Broken Windows
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
June 5, 2017
"Why should federal taxpayers pay a post-presidential pension to a former President who is willing and able to enrich himself after he leaves the White House? ... [T]he presidential pension presents the classic case of a 'broken window,' the relatively small incident which suggests deeper disarray. The same 'broken windows' effect occurs when former state legislators manipulate state pension laws, taking short-term but highly paid state executive positions to boost their retirement pensions."
3.  Why Does the Democratic Party Want the Cadillac Tax Abolished?
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Sept. 5, 2016
"What neither party wants to admit is the larger implication of their opposition to the Cadillac tax: Neither party is willing to adopt serious, practical measures to confront the problem of our nation's continually rising health care costs."
4.  The Thatcherism of State-Sponsored Private Sector Retirement Programs
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
May 2, 2016
"Margaret Thatcher would likely have been uncomfortable with a legally-imposed mandate requiring private sector employers to participate in a state-run pension plan. It is also likely that she would have preferred that the state not compete with commercial pension providers -- though she might have been mollified by the prospect that part or all of these state programs will be outsourced to private firms. However, Margaret Thatcher would probably have viewed state-sponsored private sector retirement plans as stimulating stock ownership by low income employees. This she would have strongly supported."
5.  Resolving Zubik v. Burwell: Health Savings Accounts Could Be a Solution for Religious Employers
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Apr. 4, 2016
"The Court appears to be seeking a method by which religious employers can themselves not finance or be implicated in the provision of birth control while, at the same time, such contraception is provided through the insurance companies the employers engage to furnish health care coverage to their employees.... [T]here is such an approach: Any religious employer objecting to contraception should have the right to instead fund an independently-administered health savings account (HSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) for each of its employees.... Under this approach, an employee of a religious employer who desires extra prescription eyeglasses could use her HRA or HSA for that purpose -- while her co-worker could use that account to obtain birth control. In neither case would the religious employer participate in the employee's decision how to expend her health care account dollars."
6.  Deferring the Cadillac Tax Kills It
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Feb. 1, 2016
"The Cadillac tax is a decidedly modest reform compared to the real solution for the underlying problem -- namely, making all health insurance premiums taxable income to the employees covered by such premiums. Nevertheless, the tax was an initial step in the right direction.... The delay of the Cadillac tax reflects an unfortunate reality: On a bipartisan basis, our elected officials denounce high healthcare costs but are in practice unwilling to take the painful steps necessary to actually control such costs."
7.  The DOL Pokes the Sleeping Bear
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Jan. 4, 2016
"The proposed DOL regulation, if finalized in its current form, will undermine California's current statute which uses formula-based, cash balance-style accounts for the Golden State's private sector retirement savings program. The DOL's proposed regulation requires that participants in state-sponsored retirement savings programs possess the same unrestricted right to withdraw their retirement savings as IRA participants possess. This unrestricted right of withdrawal will create the possibility of a 'run on the bank' if the assets in the proposed California state retirement plan are insufficient to pay larger formula-based claims established by the California statute."
8.  The Little Sisters, the Supreme Court and the HSA/HRA alternative
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Dec. 7, 2015
[A]ny religious employer objecting to any otherwise ACA-mandated item of medical coverage should have the right to instead fund an independently-administered health savings account (HSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) for each of its employees. Any employer maintaining HSAs or HRAs for its employees could then decline to offer its employees any particular form of medical coverage to which the employer objects on religious grounds. Employees can use their employer-provided HSA or HRA funds to purchase any medical service or device they want -- in the same way such employees can use their cash wages as they please."
9.  California's S.B. 185, Thermal Coal, and the Fallacies of Social Investing
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Nov. 2, 2015
"[California Senate Bill no.] 185 requires public employee pension plans to divest their investments in publicly-traded companies that derive half or more of their revenue from 'the mining of thermal coal.' ... [T]he social investing mandated by S.B. 185 is a misguided way to pursue environmental or other worthwhile goals. Social investing by pensions is both wrong as a matter of law and ineffective as a matter of policy."
10.  President Obama, the Senate, and State Private-Sector Retirement Laws
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
June 1, 2015
"Hopefully, the senators' letter to President Obama will contribute to an important national debate about a serious problem -- namely, the failure of low-income Americans to save for their retirements. The California and Illinois laws represent one possible approach to mandate private sector retirement savings with a state-run plan as the default option.... But these are not the only options that exist for federal and state lawmakers.... Justice Louis Brandeis famously said that the states are laboratories for experimentation. The subject of private sector retirement savings is well-suited to such experimentation."
11.  Keep the Cadillac tax
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
May 4, 2015
"Abolishing Section 106 would require all Americans to confront the cost of employer-provided health care by including such cost in their gross incomes for tax purposes. Removing Section 106 from the Internal Revenue Code would force hard decisions in the workplace about health care coverage, as employees would pay income taxes on the medical insurance premiums employers expend on their behalf.... Compared to the repeal of Section 106, the Cadillac tax is a tepid response to the need to confront the cost of employer-provided medical care."
12.  The 'Oracle of Omaha' Warns About Public Pension Underfunding
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
May 5, 2014
"Under the Internal Revenue Code, private sector pensions this month must calculate their obligations to pay retirement benefits using interest rates ranging from 1.19% (for pension benefits payable soon) to 6.76% (for pension benefits payable furthest down the road). If Connecticut or any other state with similarly underfunded pensions assumed these more sobering rates of return (as they should), [Warren] Buffett's dire assessment of pension underfunding would be dramatically confirmed."
13.  The Hobby Lobby Problem and the HSA/HRA Solution
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Dec. 2, 2013
"This entire controversy is unnecessary. The tax law contains devices for reconciling the religious concerns of employers like Hobby Lobby with the policy of expanding medical coverage: health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). The current regulatory exemption from the contraception mandate should be amended to include for-profit employers and to exempt from the federal contraception mandate employers (both non-profit and profit-making) who maintain HSAs or HRAs for their respective employees. Compromise along these lines would respect the genuinely-held views of religious minorities while implementing the federal policy of broadening access to health care."
14.  Pension Fund Divestment Is No Answer to Russia's Homophobic Policies
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Sept. 2, 2013
"A group of California state senators ... has called for California's public employee pension plans to protest Russia's homophobic laws and policies by ceasing to make Russian investments. While the senators are right to denounce Russia's assault on human rights, they are wrong to call for the divestment of the Golden State's public pension funds. The divestment of pension funds is not a proper means of advancing this or any other political protest, as meritorious as such protest may be."
15.  In Favor of Stronger Gun Control Laws, But Against the Divestiture of Gun Stocks
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Mar. 4, 2013
"The case against the divestiture by public pension plans of the stocks of gun manufacturers is as strong as the case for stronger gun control laws.... However, pension fiduciaries are not investing their own money. Such fiduciaries should not use the funds under their control to pursue political agendas -- even political agendas with which [the author agrees].... For public pension fiduciaries to divest gun stocks is both futile and troubling. In a competitive market, such divestiture is an economically meaningless gesture."
16.  Contraception, HSAs and the Unnecessary Controversy About Religious Conscience
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Dec. 3, 2012
"This acerbic controversy is totally unnecessary. This dispute can be diffused by health savings accounts (HSAs) or similar employer-funded medical accounts under the employee's control. Such a solution should be appealing to political leaders committed to civil discourse and mutual respect for opposing views. Unfortunately, such leaders appear to be in short supply."
17.  Public Pensions' Unrealistic Rate of Return Assumptions
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Aug. 16, 2012
"The problem of underfunded public pensions cannot be solved until it is acknowledged. Unrealistically high rate of return assumptions, like those embraced by CalPERS and other public retirement plans, mask the magnitude of the underfunding of public pensions. The refusal to confront the problem of pension underfunding may help state officials to get re-elected by kicking the proverbial can past the next election, but the problem cannot be ignored indefinitely. The longer the problem of underfunded state pensions is ignored, the more difficult will be the ultimate adjustments required of state taxpayers and state employees."
18.  'Come and Get Me' -- The Likely Failure of Obamacare Despite the Health Insurance Mandate
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
July 2, 2012
"Even before [the Supreme Court's desision], there were those who feared that many Americans would pay the tax rather than purchase health insurance. The Obama Administration itself estimated that four million Americans will choose to pay the tax instead of acquiring health care coverage. Chief Justice Roberts' opinion invites Americans to do just this. Because Congress precluded the IRS from using many of its standard enforcement techniques to collect this tax, many Americans will simply decline to pay the tax -- without anything happening to them."
19.  Public Pensions, Private Equity, and the Mythical 8% Return
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Mar. 6, 2012
Public pension plans should not invest in private equity deals. These deals lack both transparency and the discipline of market forces. Private equity investments allow elected officials to assume unrealistically high rates of return for public pension plans and to make correspondingly low contributions to such plans. This is a recipe for inadequately funded pensions, an outcome good for neither public employees nor taxpayers.
20.  Mitt Romney's IRA
Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, OUPblog Link to more items from this source
Feb. 6, 2012
Can I invest my IRA funds like Mitt Romney? In theory, yes. In practice, no. There are mutual funds which invest in private equity deals of the sort Mitt Romney holds in his IRA. However, under the best of circumstances, these funds need to be scrutinized carefully as to their management fees and whether they really obtain the kinds of investment opportunities available to a Bain Capital partner. I'm skeptical.
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