rigorousintuition.ca

I'd love to hear more from the economically enlightened gallery here about State and Local CAFR Coffers (Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports).

Background:

Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehens ... ial_report

Texas Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
http://www.window.state.tx.us/finances/pubs/cafr/

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report City of Austin, Texas - [PDF]
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/controller/d ... fr2003.pdf

OFM | Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
http://www.ofm.wa.gov/cafr/

Walter Burien's website
www.CAFR1.com

CAFR Network
www.cafrman.com

CAFR1 Trailer of "The Only Game in Town" - The Way Our Government Can Be! 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRJZoceF0vQ

CAFR "The" Government Shell Game of all time! - Walter Burien

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2k_i17-dig

"The Biggest Game InTown" about the Government CAFR wealth shell game - Walter Burien

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5850200097

CAFR Question for David Price

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtC11XcSTEM

CAFR Follow Up Questions for David Price

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LTd7ngYDkQ

Questions about the NC Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOJyitei3s

NC State Auditor Answers CAFR questions Part 1 of 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ASYeWjVyKI

DeadLine Live - Walter Burien (CAFR) - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lN_bb-XjwQ

Alex Jones CAFR MOVIE part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNd-VT0cng

Taking Back the Money Power: How Hidden Pools of Government Money Could Help Save the Economy
The Mysterious CAFRs: How Stagnant Pools of Government Money Could Help Save the Economy
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/mysterious_cafrs.php
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=19279
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-bro ... 85011.html

CAFR: US agencies have billions, trillions in investments while crying budget deficits
http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-Coun ... t-deficits

"Bueller...? Bueller...? Bueller...?"

I first heard of CAFRs around the time I first heard of that "Leo Wanta" (or whoever) and his secret billions/trillions on Rense a few years ago. So I didn't put much credence into CAFRs. I also didn't put much credence into the derivate figures of some 900 trillion dollars. Then with time, I notice other sources reference them, and i've had to slowly begin to - try to - wrap my head around them.

CAFRs almost seem like an exaggerated assets lists that includes things like the value of properties and pencils sold at their highest dollar.

Like the derivates number, it's hard for me to imagine these hundreds of trillions of dollars floating around from one invisible place to another, especially since the GDP, total national asset figure and the national budget is easier to imagine and identify.

I wonder if CAFRs and derivatives are designed more like a reserve currency that is built up, so as to flood the "market" at the opportune time. The "normal" amount of currency in circulation doesn't compare. It would be an economic atomic bomb of inflation in the same way as W. Buffett's admittance that derivative could domino and spiral out of control - given the correct conditions.

But really, i have no idea. The whole financial system we've degenerated into is a horrific thing. Maybe someone else can comment more intelligently about them - I'm also interested in what they are.

I did a search and came up with this old post ... it is the only reference to CAFR's on the board.

I've had the idea of CAFR's in the back of my mind for a while after first hearing about the idea from the Clint Richardson (The Corporation Nation) on the Gnostic Media podcast. I spent the day yesterday going through as much as I could find and wanted to share what I could while it is fresh in my mind.

I'll start with the conclusion first: Through the mechanism of pension funds and other governmental funds, towns, cities, counties, states, and the federal government collectively own a majority stake in the banks and businesses in the country. In short, the government owns practically everything.

So what is a CAFR? CAFR stands for Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. All municipalities are required to produce both a Budget Report and a CAFR. We are all familiar with the Budget ... taxes/fines/fees in and expenses out ... leaving a surplus or deficit. A budget is a very limited way of looking at the financial situation of an entity. The CAFR shows the rest of the picture ... total investments, total income, equity, assets, total net worth, etc. By only talking about the budget in a cash accounting language, government is able to cry poverty and hide its true wealth.

Essentially what is happening is the people pay for everything and experience all the pain and guilt associated with "receiving services" while in the background, the government has been skimming money off the top (through various funds) and used that money to dominate everything. In other words, they externalize costs and internalize profits.

What you find in the CAFR is that the pension funds and other funds, through compounding interest, have reached the point where they are the 800 lb gorilla in the marketplace. Managing government pensions has become huge business. Brokers make huge commissions trading government pensions and the pension funds themselves are the primary source of capital floating through the system. This dominant position in all forms of commerce is not reported as a part of the "budget".

Now it is true that these are pension funds. A portion of the money goes out every year to pay pensions. But the funds, after all expenses, are still growing rapidly. Because these pension funds and other funds represent huge piles of cash, the government essentially acts as a bank, using the massive influx tax money taken from the people to dominate the world.

Think about this. Microsoft, Apple, GE, Ford, Mobil, etc ... are owned by government (the largest stockholders own the company).

The proper way to look at the United States is that it is a huge corporation made up of states, counties, cities, and towns that owns just about everything. In fact, there are 185,000 incorporated governmental entities in the United States. The reality is that municipalities are bank branches for the states and the states are bank branches for the federal government. Pension funds represents the skim off the top that Government keeps as its profit and then is used to purchase ownership positions in banks, businesses, ventures, international entities, etc.

In other cases, there are state funds set-up that have legal limits set on them as to how the funds are invested. In these cases, that cash goes into banks and gets loaned back out to people and businesses. So you have tax money taken from people and then that money is loaned back to the people at interest!

In effect, the government uses "the population as a productivity resource to be drained and managed" ... to use Walter Burien's formulation at cafr1.com.

The following videos, by Clint Richardson, are excruciatingly detailed and long, but worth the effort as understanding this subject seems necessary if we are to have an accurate map of how money, government, banks, and corporations form a closely interrelated whole that runs the world.

This thread is pretty amazing, thank you.

This info feels like a Rosetta Stone. I'm still digesting it, but the picture I'm getting is that this represents Oligarchy on steroids ... the near total domination of the economic system through a mechanism that is basically hidden from view.

It must be a real hoot for the oligarchy to see just how much of the productivity resource (the working people) they can capture.

Holy crap. How can there still be this much stuff that I had no idea about?

It'll take me weeks to get through all of this.

Thanks so much, elfismiles and ST!

How do I verify that US gov/states are majority shareholders for these corps?

Is this article a big lie? It claims that California's unfunded pension liabilities amount to $612 billion. However, take a look at the CAFRs for California's two largest pensions: CALPERS and CALSTRS.

CALPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) has total NET ASSETS of over $201 billion. In 2010, they payed out $1.14 billion in "Retirement & Other Benefits in Process of Payment". However, for this same year they had total receivables from "Member, Public Agency, State & School" of over $1.7 billion. They also had additional Receivables totaling a $500 million.

So, CALPERS takes in over $2.25 billion and pays out only $1.14 billion to its retirees, and still has NET ASSETS (total assets minus liabilities) of $201 billion.

View the 2010 CALPERS Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and see for yourself on page 37.

CALSTRS (California State Teacher's Retirement System) is also in a similar situation. They had a total addition to their fund of nearly $20 billion, while paying out a total of $9 billion, for a net increase in assets of over $11.3 billion. CALSTRS total NET ASSETS for 2010 stood at $129.7 billion.

View the 2010 CALSTRS Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

View the TowersWatson P&I/TW 300 Ranking of the world's largest pension funds. This is a great resource. Some of the highlights:

• Assets under management (AUM) of the world's largest pension funds totaled US$12.5 trillion in 2010.
• Funds AUM increased by 10.9% in 2010, reaching an all-time high.

So, to recap, California's two largest pension funds have a combined value of nearly $330 billion. Each fund takes in a lot more than it pays out. So, what's the deal here?



Debts of states over $4 trillion: Budget group
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/24/us-usa-states-debt-idUSTRE79N5RX20111024

(Reuters) - The total of U.S. state debt, including pension liabilities, could surpasses $4 trillion, with California owing the most and Vermont owing the least, according to an analysis released on Monday.

The nonprofit State Budget Solutions combined states' major debt and future liabilities, primarily for pensions and employee healthcare, unemployment insurance loans, outstanding bonds and projected fiscal 2011 budget gaps. It found that in total, states are in debt for $4.2 trillion.

The group, which follows state fiscal conditions and advocates for limited spending and taxes, said the deficit calculations that states make "do not offer a full picture of the states' liabilities and can rely on budget gimmicks and accounting games to hide the extent of the deficit."

The housing bust, financial crisis and economic recession caused states' tax revenue to plunge, and huge holes have emerged in their budgets over the last few years. Because all states except Vermont must end their fiscal years with balanced budgets, states have scrambled to cut spending, hike taxes, borrow and turn to the federal government for help.

Taxpayers are worried the states' poor fiscal health will persist for a long time and some Republicans in Congress have questioned whether the situation is worse than the states say.

State Budget Solutions relied on financial reports and income tax rates provided by the Federation of Tax Administrators in determining its rankings.

The true debt totals may be lower, though, because the group also used the highest estimates of pension gaps. The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute says public pensions are short $2.8 trillion.

Others, including the nonpartisan research group Pew Center on the States, put total unfunded pension liabilities at around $700 billion.

The wide range is based on different assumptions of the returns of pension fund investments, which provide the bulk of money for benefit payments. Conservative economists say the investments will have annual returns of around 4 percent, while many funds expect returns in line with the average of the last 20 years -- closer to 8 percent.

Using the higher pension gap number, State Budget Solutions said California is in the biggest financial hole -- with total debt of more than $612 billion. New York follows with $305 billion of debt, and then Texas, with total debt of $283 billion. Vermont has the lowest amount of total debt at just over $6 billion.

The group also looked at the financial shape of states using the Pew pension projections. It came up with a total debt of $2 trillion for all states.

California still owes the most under the alternative computation, but the state's total debt drops significantly, to $307 billion. With the Pew numbers, New Jersey follows with $183 billion of debt and Illinois is next at $150 billion.

According to the analysis, California has also borrowed the most from the federal government to pay for unemployment benefits, $8.6 billion. Michigan was next, taking out $3.1 billion, and then New York, borrowing $2.9 billion.

As unemployment shot up, some states could not pay for the surge in demand for jobless benefits. The federal government loosened its lending rules to keep states from having to cut other areas of their budgets. But last month the U.S. government again began charging interest on the outstanding loans and may levy extra taxes on businesses in states with outstanding loans.

Looking at just state annual financial statements, the group found Connecticut has the highest debt per capita, at $5,402, and nine states have debt of more than $3,000 per capita.