Christie betting that lottery can bail out troubled pensions
Source: Associated Press
Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press
Updated 5:16 pm, Tuesday, June 13, 2017
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is betting that the lottery is the ticket to shoring up one of the state's most vexing money problems: ever-growing obligations to the pensions for public employees.
The idea of linking the lottery to pensions has been around for years, but legislation backed by the Republican governor was introduced this week to make the lottery the property of the pension system for 30 years.
Analysts and advocates say the deal an arrangement that would be unique to New Jersey probably won't hurt, but there's not a consensus on how much it might help.
"Where it does provide tremendous relief is optically," said Lisa Washburn, managing director at Municipal Market Analytics, a firm that analyzes government bonds. "The numbers look better on a whole lot of levels. Whether or not they're truly better is questionable."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Christie-plan-to-link-lottery-to-pensions-goes-to-11216974.php
SethH
(170 posts)demosincebirth
(12,543 posts)billions in bond money, they are still in fiscal trouble.
George II
(67,782 posts)Example, the Revel cost over $2 billion to build and was bankrupt in less than 2 years. So Christie gave them $300 million out of the pension fund to help them survive. They didn't. It eventually was sold at a bankruptcy auction just a few months after they got the $300 million. The auction price? $110 million, about 1/3 of the money that Christie gave them.
Now he's looking to another gambling prospect to help the pension fund? Ridiculous.
Blue Idaho
(5,057 posts)On his hare brain schemes in the first place...
keithbvadu2
(36,937 posts)Fiscally responsible republican policies?
mdbl
(4,976 posts)that's what most repuglicans do.