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Das 3850-Milliarden-Dollar-Loch in den staatlichen US-Pensionsfonds

Heute Morgen waren die schlechten Aussichten kommender Rentnergenerationen das Thema. Jetzt ein Blick auf die nicht bessere Lage in den USA. Dort legt der Staat zwar Geld zur Seite für die künftigen Pensionen seiner Mitarbeiter, doch sind die Renditeerwartungen für diese Anlagen viel zu hoch und es entsteht ein großes Loch, das zurzeit 3850 Milliarden Dollar groß ist und täglich größer wird. Die FT berichtet:

  • “(…) the collective funding hole in the public pension system jumped by $434bn in just one year, raising fears of further Detroit-style bankruptcies. According to academic research (…) US public pension funds lack $3.85tn that they need to pay the retirement benefits of current and retired workers.” – bto: Das sind doch mal Größenordnungen!
  • “The situation is especially difficult for cities such as Chicago, which (…) has unfunded pension liabilities that equal 19 years of the city’s tax revenues. Fort Worth, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Dallas also have large underfunded pension schemes, while states such as Illinois, Kentucky and New Jersey rank badly in the Stanford research.” – bto: Deshalb stehen wir vor einem landesweiten Problem. 
  • “Puerto Rico, the US territory, this month declared a form of bankruptcy after amassing debt and pension obligations of $123bn. Mr Rauh said politicians will have to make unpopular decisions if they are to ward off future financial problems. This could include cutting pension benefits or raising taxes in order to contribute larger sums to public retirement plans.” – bto: Politisch ist das schwer durchzuhalten. 
  • “According to the Stanford research, which looked at 649 pension plans in the 12 months to June 2015, the most recent year retirement funds have produced accounts for, no US city or state is running a balanced budget for their pension schemes. (…) ..states and cities needed to contribute an additional $167bn to their pensions in fiscal 2015 to stop the funding hole increasing.” – bto: Woher sollen die kommen?
  • “(…) Hoover Institute, a Stanford University think-tank, found the funding hole across the US public pension system ballooned after retirement plans failed to generate sufficient returns. Related article US faces ‘disastrous’ $3.4tn pension funding hole Collective deficit of retirement plans is three times larger than official figures Pension funds estimate their liabilities based on future returns, with US public retirement plans using an average annual return of more than 7 per cent. But in the year to June 2015, public pension plans generated average returns of just under 2.9 per cent.” – bto: Das sind die Folgen der Eiszeit. 
  • “(…) the funding deficit of public pensions probably grew to $4tn in fiscal 2016, while remaining relatively flat so far in 2017 because of buoyant stock markets. (…) A government with a serious pension funding problem is like a ship trying to sail with its anchor stuck in the mud.” – bto: Und so ist es weltweit, bei uns nur besser versteckt als in den USA.

→ FT (Anmeldung erforderlich): „US faces crisis as pension funding hole hits $3.85tn“, 15. Mai 2016