The big problem with the Norton Shores pension fund | Fox17

The big problem with the Norton Shores pension fund | Fox17

NORTON SHORES, Mich. – Underneath the top-ranked school system and the picturesque setting beside Mona Lake, the city of Norton Shores has a problem.
It may not rear its head today or tomorrow, but in years to come, employees working for the city could be in trouble when it comes to the city’s pension fund.
It’s underfunded – way underfunded.
And if city officials don’t make changes to correct the deficit now, it could spell trouble down the line.
“These retirees are counting on this,” said Norton Shores resident and retired financial advisor Jim Riley.
“If you have a fiscal cancer, and you avoid doing any type of treatment for that fiscal cancer, it will get worse. 
And we have a fiscal cancer.”
Riley came across the problem while reading a Mackinac Center study on underfunded pension funds in the state of Michigan.
“As I looked through the list and got lower and lower and lower, I was shocked to see that Norton Shores - my town - was the 6th lowest funded pension fund of all of the top 100 cities in the state of Michigan,” said Riley.
“That’s a big, scary deal.”
Essentially the underfunding affects two separate reserves: the pension itself, and the post-employment health care fund.
The pension fund, just 51% funded, is short nearly $20 million of where it needs to be.
The health care fund is far worse – just 4% funded and nearly $38 million short, according to documents from the city.
“We have two funds that appear to be really falling off a cliff,” said Riley.
“The annual budget for Norton Shores is about $23 million, so this is almost a little less than three times the annual budget.”
So the question now for Riley and nearly 100 city employees counting on those benefits is, how does it get fixed?
Similar to Detroit’s bankruptcy issue years back, raising taxes would only serve to deter business from coming in or staying for that matter..."
Read on!!

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS

Instapundit » Blog Archive » PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

Shot: The questions about Hillary Clinton’s health are absurd.

—Chris Cillizza, the Washington Post, today.

Chaser:

McCain’s health has long been a topic of discussion in the campaign due to his advanced age — he will be 72 by the time of the November election — and his past medical problems.

McCain himself regularly pokes fun at both his age and his wounds; “I’m older than dirt and I have more scars than Frankenstein,” he jokes with audiences.

But, the Arizona senator’s campaign is well aware that concerns about whether he is well enough and up to the job are potentially perilous for a candidate seeking to win the age versus experience battle with youthful Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the fall.

To that end, the McCain campaign knew this day would inevitably come. What was out of their control was what the records would say. Picking how the release of the records would be played in the media, however, was under their control and they sought to control it.

* * * * * * *

* TGIF: It’s become a tried and true policy in Washington that bad news tends to break late on Fridays. That’s because sharp flacks know that the attention of the American public tends to linger to movies, bars, sports and other distractions right around noon on Friday. (That is, of course, not true for The Fix who retains his laser-like focus on politics 24 hours a day, seven days a week.) By releasing the documents on a Friday — and a Friday before a long, holiday weekend no less — the McCain campaign is relying on the fact that average voters are either already on their way to Memorial Day destinations or heading there in their minds.

The story will get major play no matter what — McCain is the Republican presidential nominee after all — but the audience for the stories is likely to be lower than if the documents were dropped on a Monday or Tuesday for example. (Interesting sidenote: The Fix spoke to Serbian reporters and editors yesterday and confirmed that the Friday afternoon document dump exists even in Serbia!)

—“McCain’s Health: What It Means,” Chris Cillizza, the Washington Post, May 23, 2008.

Related: “Is it true that John McCain’s injuries as a result of being tortured as a POW are the real reason he does not send e-mails (using a keyboard is painful for him)? Or is Barack Obama’s ad portraying him as a computer luddite true?”

—“McCain’s War Injuries and Computers,” “FactCheck.org,” September 17, 2008."

Communist Party USA Endorses Hillary; Media Yawns

Communist Party USA Endorses Hillary; Media Yawns
The media just loves the Ku Klux Klan. 
Here’s a small sampling of headlines:

The New York Daily News: 
Donald Trump supported by former KKK leader David Duke: 'I hope he does everything we hope he will do’

The Daily News gasped:

Donald Trump's been knighted by racist David Duke. 

The former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan told his bigoted followers that not voting for Trump would be “treason to your heritage” and implored them to volunteer for the billionaire candidate because they would find like-minded haters in the campaign.”

Then there was USA Today: Former Ku Klux Klan leader declares support for Donald Trump

The paper then wrote in breathless style:

Donald Trump once said he’s “the least racist person there is.”

Even so, multiple white nationalists have found appeal in Trump’s message and have aligned their support with the presidential candidate.

The latest is David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, who called for listeners of his radio show to support Trump and volunteer for his campaign.

‘Go in there, you’re gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mindset that you have,’ Duke said Wednesday on the David Duke Radio Program, as first reported by Buzzfeed.

Duke reasoned that ‘voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.’

And so it went in the mainstream media universe, Trump’s rejection of Duke irrelevant to their stories.

...So with all this attention to Trump on David Duke, surely you read the news about John Bachtell, right? He endorsed Hillary and the headlines were everywhere. 

Oh, wait, sorry. Mr. Bachtell’s Hillary endorsement was apparently not newsy enough to make the mainstream media headlines.  

Curious, yes? 

If the endorsement of Trump by the ex-head of the Ku Klux Klan is big news, one would expect a Hillary endorsement by the head of the Communist Party USA would be a big deal as well.

That’s right. Hillary-supporter Bachtell is, as seen here, the very proud “national chair of the Communist Party USA.” 
That’s right, Mr. Bachtell is a literal card-carrying Communist. 
You recall the Communists, yes? 
The folks who produced Stalin and Mao? .."

All the Lies: They’ve Turned Us Into a Rotting Banana Republic | The American Spectator

All the Lies: They’ve Turned Us Into a Rotting Banana Republic | The American Spectator:

"The defining characteristics of banana republics are a matter of history. First, the law is not enforced against a chosen class in a banana republic, usually the allies of the autocrat in charge. Second, foreign policy is always performed in the autocrat’s interests and often in disregard of the nation’s actual interests. This describes how America functions in the era of President Obama.

The newly-released FBI documents on the investigation of Hillary Clinton make it clear beyond argument that the fix was in and that the FBI never had any intention of recommending that she should be prosecuted for her crimes."

The Perils of High Public Office

The Volokh Conspiracy - The Perils of High Public Office
The Perils of High Public Office

CBS News has dug up some video of Rep. Dan Rostenkowski being chased down the street by a crowd of angry seniors. 
This event took place twenty years ago next Monday -- August 17, 1989.

Here's Rostenkowski starting at 1:35 in the video:
Rostenkowski: I don't think they understand what the government's trying to do for them.
Reporter: Do you sympathize with their anger on this?
Rostenkowski: No, I don't think they understand what's going on.

As this book makes clear, Rostenkowski was comfortably within the mainstream of Congresssional and elite media opinion in dismissing the objections of his constituents as uninformed, ill-founded, or rabble-rousing. 
But, the day had long-term consequences. 
As the New York Times observed in a 2002 article, "the television images of Mr. Rostenkowski under assault struck fear in the hearts of politicians that remains to this day. 
Few want to be pitted against older people on issues involving Medicare. 
'Politicians were traumatized by the Rostenkowski episode and they remain traumatized,' said Henry J. Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution."
I devote a few pages of my book on Medicare to the subject..."
Click link for comments... some hilarious.

AM Fruitcake

History for September 7

History for September 7 - On-This-Day.com:
Elizabeth I (England) 1533, Michael DeBakey 1908, Elia Kazan 1909


David Packard 1912, Peter Lawford 1923, Al McGuire 1928


1813 - The nickname "Uncle Sam" was first used as a symbolic reference to the United States. The reference appeared in an editorial in the New York's Troy Post.


1888 - Edith Eleanor McLean became the first baby to be placed in an incubator.


1915 - Johnny Gruelle received a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll. (U.S. Patent D47789)

1921 - Margaret Gorman of Washington, DC, was crowned the first Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ.


1940 - London received its initial rain of bombs from Nazi Germany during World War II.


1963 - The National Professional Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, OH.


1977 - The Panama Canal treaties were signed by U.S. President Carter and General Omar Torrijos Herrera. The treaties called for the U.S. to turn over control of the canal's waterway to Panama in the year 2000.


1979 - ESPN, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, made its debut on cable TV.

Lessons for America from the fall of Rome

Lessons for America from the fall of Rome:

"“The parallels are quite ominous – the debt, the expansionist foreign policy, the arrogance of executive power taking over our country,’ says Kibbe. ‘But I do think we have a chance to … alert people to the danger in imperial Washington and try to fight it. …’ Empires do crumble. Rome’s lasted the longest.

“The Ottoman Empire lasted 623 years. China’s Song, Qing and Ming dynasties each lasted about 300 years. We’ve lasted just 237 years so far. … We’ve accomplished amazing things, but we shouldn’t take our continued success for granted. Freedom and prosperity are not natural. In human history, they’re rare.”"

Ken Braun: Too bad Grand Rapids can't replace rapid transit route with Uber

Ken Braun: Too bad Grand Rapids can't replace rapid transit route with Uber | MLive.com:
"The new Silver Line rapid transit bus running through Grand Rapids has been operating for most of a year and now averages 56,000 rides per month.
The CEO of The Rapid - Grand Rapids' public bus service - is cautiously optimistic, saying "it's a good sign of a new route developing its ridership base so quickly."
Too bad they can't just hire Uber drivers.
The Silver Line is a dedicated lane for buses along a 9.6 mile route.
By excluding cars from the lane, and providing preferential status at traffic lights, the Silver Line claims it can give riders faster trips than individual motorists can achieve along the same route.
This is in part because cars are not permitted on the new bus lane, thus making car lanes more crowded than they otherwise need to be.
The many get more crowded concrete so a tiny few can have the Silver.
The 56,000 rides per month breaks down to less than 1,900 rides per day. 
So the number of individual souls using the Silver Line each day is probably closer to half that many, because most riders must consume two trips on a round trip, and some even more if they make multiple stops along the line.
Let's say there are 1,000 unique riders per day.
The $40 million initial construction cost for the Silver Line works out to two brand new $20,000 automobiles for each of those 1,000 riders. 
Easily in that price range is a new Ford Fiesta with city mileage of 31 mpg..."
Read on!

Venezuela On The Brink…

Venezuela On The Brink… | The Last Refuge:
Venezuela On The Brink…

Posted on September 4, 2016 by sundance

If, like me, you haven’t been keeping up with the escalating crisis in Venezuela, you might be surprised at the scope of the protests in the past few days.

With massive food shortages still ongoing as a result of the economic crisis created by Nicholas Maduro policy, millions of people are now taking to the streets of the capital city of Caracus; and even chasing Maduro out of small towns and villages.

(Via ABC) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reportedly was greeted by angry pot-banging protesters during a visit to Margarita Island.

Grainy cellphone videos said to be from the Friday night encounter were picked up by Venezuelan news sites and were trending on social media. The socialist leader is seen jogging through a crowd as residents loudly bang on pots and hurl obscenities.

His visit to Margarita Island earlier Friday evening was broadcast nationwide. Images of the protest were later posted by residents of the town where it reportedly occurred. (link)

Here’s video of a stunning protest march in Caracus a few days ago:

Venezuelan Women Are Getting Sterilized To Avoid Pregnancy In A Socialist Dystopia - Matt Vespa

Venezuelan Women Are Getting Sterilized To Avoid Pregnancy In A Socialist Dystopia - Matt Vespa:

"Looting has been rampant as people struggle to survive. To avoid the appearance of a crisis, the government has banned lines outside of bakeries. In all, virtually every aspect of Venezuelan socioeconomic life has collapsed. So, would you raise a family in this socialist nightmare? The answer is no—and women are opting to sterilize themselves to avoid pregnancies and the cost of raising children in a country that simply can’t provide basic services for its people. Oh, I forgot to mention, even basic birth control could be viewed as a luxury item, like toilet paper, since no one can find that either (via Fox News Latino):"

Citizens empowered!-----Almost Entire County Commission Overthrown After Spending Splurge

Almost Entire County Commission Overthrown After Spending Splurge [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"By ANNE SCHIEBER-DYKSTRA | Aug. 30, 2016 |
 Follow Anne Schieber-Dykstra on Twitter
Editor's note: This story was changed to include comments from Commissioner Bert Notestine after publication.
"While primary elections for local offices rarely garner much attention, the results of the August election were dramatic for one county in northern lower Michigan.
Of seven members of the current county commission, only one will be on the fall ballot.
“I did not anticipate such a dramatic and historic turnover on the Emmet County board,” said Commissioner Charlie MacInnis, who ran unopposed in the primary.
"The community clearly didn’t support the massive spending projects that were undertaken without adequate planning or voter approval.”
Four of the seven incumbents lost primary contests while another two did not seek re-election.
Last year, county commissioners built a $1.7 million substation for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and planned to break ground on a $9 million “dark sky” observatory.
...“Many people, at first, thought he was exaggerating: no contracts, except an hourly rate, no scope of project, no budget, no performance bonds and the like.
When the sitting commissioners failed to rebut Charlie, the public began to pay attention,” she said.
...The Emmet County Republican Party began a campaign to recruit candidates to challenge sitting commissioners. Sarowski said that MacInnis impressed a number of people and motivated them to seek office. She and MacInnis brought the candidates up to speed on the issues and helped them campaign.
...Sarowski says many people have told her the election gave them hope.
“Hope that wrongs can be righted. 
Hope that good people can be elected. 
Hope that liberally (bent) newspapers can do good reporting. 
Hope that our tax money can be allocated responsibly,” said Sarowski."

How Many U.S. Cities Can You Fit Inside Tokyo?

How Many U.S. Cities Can You Fit Inside Tokyo? - Metrocosm:

Lunch video-----The Enigma, Part 1: Strange Bedfellows | Bill Whittle

The Enigma, Part 1: Strange Bedfellows | Bill Whittle:
We're told Barack Obama's history and character are somehow off-limits. 
But personal history makes character, and the character of the President of the United States is something we have a right to be interested in.
In Part 1 of this meticulously researched and and sourced series, Bill Whittle examines both the Dunhams and the Obamas -- each steeped in Marxism and anti-Americansm and each a long, long way away from mainstream American culture.

Noon-toon

Pelosi: Clinton emails a technicality | Washington Examiner

Pelosi: Clinton emails a technicality | Washington Examiner:

"Nancy Pelosi dismissed Hillary Clinton's growing email scandal as a series of "technicalities" Monday, brushing aside FBI and congressional investigations.

The House minority leader said voters shouldn't get "bogged down in some technicalities" and added, "it's really much ado about nothing, but too much ado.""

Why do our politicians hate democracy so very much?

Why do our politicians hate democracy so very much? :
"Our own political class, in its contempt for democracy, does little to restore its reputation.
On Friday Nicola Sturgeon launched a “new conversation” about Scottish independence, an idea handsomely rejected two years ago.
Could we finish the old conversation first?
What would Scotland’s currency be if it were independent?
How would it join the EU?
And another point has become more prevalent since we last discussed this matter: the £15bn annual deficit Scotland runs..."

Obese patients and smokers banned from routine surgery in 'most severe ever' rationing in the NHS

Obese patients and smokers banned from routine surgery  in 'most severe ever' rationing in the NHS: "Obese people will be routinely refused operations across the NHS, health service bosses have warned, after one authority said it would limit procedures on an unprecedented scale.
Hospital leaders in North Yorkshire said that patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above – as well as smokers – will be barred from most surgery for up to a year amid increasingly desperate measures to plug a funding black hole.
The restrictions will apply to standard hip and knee operations..."

GAFFE FOR THE AGES: GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE JILL STEIN LATE FOR RALLY BECAUSE SHE WENT TO THE WRONG CITY

Instapundit » Blog Archive » GAFFE FOR THE AGES:
"GAFFE FOR THE AGES: GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE JILL STEIN LATE FOR RALLY BECAUSE SHE WENT TO THE WRONG CITY: 
“The campaign of the Green Party candidate for president, Jill Stein, made one of those gaffes for the ages. 
The candidate was scheduled to speak in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday but she arrived two hours late because her staff had booked her on a flight to Cincinnati…
This is entirely understandable. 
After all, most Stein staffers are of the coastal elite variety. 
They probably don’t know that Columbus and Cincinnati are different cities. They both begin with a ‘C,’ right?”

Well I guess Hillary can breathe a sigh of relief — she’s not the only far left presidential candidate who has a great deal of difficulty understanding what (C) stands for.
As for Stein, you’d think the face of an ideology that professes to believe that plane travel is destroying the planet would be much more careful about this sort of thing.  Posted by Ed Driscoll at 5:50 pm

Soros Group Spent $600K To Mainstream Pro-Refugee Attitudes | The Daily Caller

Soros Group Spent $600K To Mainstream Pro-Refugee Attitudes | The Daily Caller:

"Leaked documents from left-wing financier George Soros’s Open Society Foundations continue to reveal the extent to which the group has influenced the political response to Europe’s refugee crisis. Internal documents show OSF used $600,000 in reserve funding in March 2016 to bring pro-refugee positions into the “political mainstream.”"

Tens of Thousands Of Scientists Declare Climate Change A Hoax

Tens of Thousands Of Scientists Declare Climate Change A Hoax | Your News Wire:
"A staggering 30,000 scientists have come forward confirming that man-made climate change is a hoax perpetuated by the elite in order to make money. 
One of the experts is weather channel founder, John Coleman, who warns that huge fortunes are being made by man-made climate change proponents such as Al Gore.
In a recent interview with Climate Depot, Coleman said:
“Al Gore may emerge from the shadows to declare victory in the ‘global warming’ debate if Hillary Clinton moves into the White House.
Yes, if that happens and the new climate regulations become the law of the land, they will be next to impossible to overturn for four to eight years.”
Climate change proponents remain undeterred in their mission, ignoring numerous recent scientific findings indicating that there has been no warming trend at all for nearly two decades.
Al Gore’s dire predictions of the melting of polar ice on a massive scale have proved to be completely false.
In fact, in 2014 – a year that was touted as being “the hottest ever” in the Earth’s history – there were record amounts of ice reported in Antarctica, an increase in Arctic ice, and record snowfalls across the globe.
Debunking the “97 percent” lie
On top of those “inconvenient truths,” the White House’s assertion that 97 percent of scientists agree that global warming is real has been completely debunked.
Several independently-researched examinations of the literature used to support the “97 percent” statement found that the conclusions were cherry-picked and misleading..."

AM Fruitcake

History for September 6

History for September 6 - On-This-Day.com:
Marquis de Lafayette 1757, Jane Addams 1860, Joseph P. Kennedy 1888



Billy Rose 1899, Jane Curtin 1947, Jeff Foxworthy 1958


1620 - The Pilgrims left on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to settle in the New World.


1819 - Thomas Blanchard patented a machine called the lathe.


1899 - Carnation processed its first can of evaporated milk.


1901 - U.S. President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded (he died eight days later) by Leon Czolgosz. Czolgosz, an American anarchist, was executed the following October.


1909 - Robert Peary, American explorer, sent word that he had reached the North Pole. He had reached his goal five months earlier.


1941 - Jews in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed. The order only applied to Jews over the age of 6.


1990 - Iraq warned that anyone trying to flee the country without permission would be put in prison for life.


1995 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood was expelled by the Senate Ethics Committee.

Meet the mastermind behind Clinton’s massive email coverup | New York Post

Meet the mastermind behind Clinton’s massive email coverup | New York Post:

"The smoking gun is on page 16 of the FBI’s 47-page report. It details how Mills ultimately made the determinations about which emails should be preserved before she and Clinton decided to delete the rest as “personal.” Clinton conducted both government and personal business using a personal email account — clintonemail.com — tied to an unsecured server set up in the basement of her New York home.

The FBI makes clear the procedure Mills used to sort out the emails was suspicious.

For starters, Mills was the one who ordered the server host to move the emails from "