This came in from Max Grossman:
Friends,
On December 10, Moody’s Investment Service announced that in the event of a recession of similar severity to the 2008-09 downtown, El Paso will be one of four cities (including Detroit) in which “adjusted net pension liabilities will rise by more than 100% of revenue.” I guess we had better pray that the economy holds up and that the stock market does not suffer a major reversal, otherwise we’re toast!
Earlier this year, State Data Lab, a subsidiary of Truth in Accounting, whose mission is “to educate and empower citizens with understandable, reliable, and transparent government financial information,” declared that “El Paso is a Sinkhole City without enough assets to cover its debt.” And that was based upon financial data from 2017!
I have stated it many times and will state it again. The City Manager, Mayor, and City Council Representatives have placed us on a financial path that could lead to disaster. Even as our homestead tax burden is second only to Detroit, they still insist that our government should be in the entertainment business, providing us with stadiums and waterparks.
Lord help us.
Max
**********************************************
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
So this is a tacit endorsement of Donald Trump 2020? I think there is very little dispute that any of the socialist Democrat candidates for President being elected would tank the economy. Any actual argument would be to what degree with what candidate.
El Paso could do its own green new deal. That would fix everything in the local economy while singlehandedly saving the entire planet Earth.
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😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
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Oh yeah, Trump is the answer for sure: US Deficit hits $984 Billion https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/25/us-deficit-hit-billion-marking-nearly-percent-increase-during-trump-era/
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Humor us with Obama’s deficit numbers…
While you are at it, here is an artcile about the greatness of Democrat rule: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/man-caught-pooping-in-aisle-of-san-francisco-safeway/
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And yet the deficit is still below the one run in the first four years of the Obama administration according to the chart in your article. And if President Trump is successful in reducing our Middle East footprint, it will continue to drop. We are spending a fortune over there. What most folks don’t understand is that two fundamental steps have been taken that lay the groundwork for that. First, we are now energy independent of the Middle East and second, the EU realizes we are not an endless supply of money for their defense. I love when folks scream about the deficit and then complain when troop withdrawals start from wars we can’t win. And, as someone near retirement I’m pretty happy that the combination of a good economy and an outstanding stock market has allowed me to meet my stretch goals for retirement funding every year since Trump has been in office. That wasn’t happening under Obama. As far as I’m concerned it is Trump 2020. This post just underscores how badly politicians who show empathy and have all the right “focus group tested” talking points can and do screw the average working guy.
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Dump NATO and shut down the Empire Machine of 800 military bases globally. Let Japan and China protect their own oil shipments in the Gulf.
Save a load of money.
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None of these comments have anything to do with the note from Max Grossman and the total irresponsibility, if not corruption, of this city’s government. Bye.
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Sick and tired, the fact that you don’t understand the connection between policies that drive economic growth and policies that trigger a retraction (which based on Max Grossman’s post could trigger a situation where EP’s pension fund’s liabilities exceeded revenue by 100%), is part of a larger problem. For decades politicians on both sides of the aisle have told us we couldn’t have the economy we seeing right now (following a reversal of big donor-driven policies that were depressing the economy). It’s all connected and we now have a choice. Grossman’s post focuses on the local impact of fiscally irresponsible policies that could reach crisis stage if we have another deep recession. It seems impossible to solve the problem at a local level, but at least we have an option at the national level.
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Moody’s said “downturn,” not “downtown.”
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Thanks, but I didn’t need the mathematical and financial geniuses at Moody’s to tell me this.
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Record world debt that’s been artificially buoyed by central bank shenanigans. The Chinese are hoarding gold for a reason.
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Why is the amount of pension liability of the City of El Paso so high it could be catastrophic for EVERYONE if there is a financial downturn?
That’s the question that needs asking. It isn’t as if the city has employed the number of people who participated in World War II.
Why are so many people required to pay such an extravagant amount to such a few people?
Unions are only good for the people in them, therefore they have no reason to exist in the public sector. There should be no unions for government employees.
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You think there should be no unions for government employees.So, it’s okay for people like the city manager and deputy manager to have fat contracts negotiated by attorneys working on their behalf, but it’s not okay for ordinary employees to have representation?
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It’s not okay for either. Unions made sense back in the days of sweatshops. But in today’s workplace they just increase cost and provide protection for mediocre workers. Folks that have initiative and work ethic don’t need a union to get salary increases. And while most companies in the private sector abandoned pensions in favor of 401ks in the 80s, the public sector continues to have them. The private sector abandoned them for two reasons. First, they are unsustainable (and companies recognized that surprising retired employees by breaking pension promises was a fundamentally bad thing to do). And, second, company lifecycles were shrinking. Pension funds make companies less attractive as an acquisition. The public sector hangs on to pensions and the unions because no one cares about cost or efficiency. In some towns, leadership doesn’t get paid what they demand. Remember, when Joyce Wilson got told by a Florida town her salary expectations were too high? But here in EP we think overpaying leadership is a badge of honor. We also tell everyone that if we don’t have pensions we won’t be competitive and will have difficulty getting employees. While that may be true for the police department, look at your average city employee. Are they brilliant folks with experience we need that we pulled from a large city? No, they are local folks often with marginal education and experience for the position they have. We are playing Robin Hood with tax dollars. I support pensions for police and fire because they lay their lives on the line, but I think city desk jockeys should have 401ks. And city leadership should get a pay cut.
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“Sinkhole city”? You misspelled A Democrat-run sh***ole city run by corrupt politicians and the idle rich of El Taxo who own them.
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