MuniLand

Bob Nelson of Thomson Reuters Municipal Market Data and I, along with several others, went back and forth on Twitter about how public pension funds manage their investments. Nelson tweeted out the chart above comparing the investment returns for Calpers, the giant California public employee pension fund, with index returns for equities and fixed income. It looks as if Calpers has some very good returns.

Good Links

Moody’s: Austerity challenges the U.S. outlook

U.S. DOJ: From 2010 to 2011 the number of people in county and city jails (735,601) declined by 1.8 percent

WM Financial Strategies: Nice roundup of muniland regulatory issues

Bloomberg: Governments belatedly put pension deficits on their books

StlToday.com: Tax support for mall gains despite opposition

The Daily Journal: More fiscal fandango: New Jersey budget relies on one-shot solutions

NYT: Austerity rears its head in a liberal New Jersey town

Albany Times Union: Investigation raises alarm on overuse of anti-psychotic drugs in nursing homes

@Twitter Talk

FRED has a new look, but we also added new features like data tags bit.ly/IbQyQW

— St. Louis Fed (@stlouisfed) May 8, 2012

Private industry workers get 29.5% of their comp in benefits. State & local govt workers, 34.6%1.usa.gov/gNO9X via BLS — David Wessel (@davidmwessel) May 9, 2012

Rental vacancy rates by state & homeowner vacancy rates by state (1st Q 2012) ow.ly/aNe9W #Census

— Barrett and Greene (@GreeneBarrett) May 9, 2012

Laura Porter of Fitch Ratings U.S. Public Finance group discusses online sales tax with @FoxBusiness ow.ly/aMF1N #muniland — Fitch Ratings (@FitchRatings) May 9, 2012

The tension between the federal government and medical marijuana states continues, as 25 Colorado dispensaries close. denverpost.com/news/ci_205784…

— Michael Cooper (@coopnytimes) May 9, 2012

Breaking: Postal Service will drop plans to close up to 3,700 mostly rural post offices, citing customer outcry.on.wsj.com/LO3Oig — Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 9, 2012

@CAController reports April revenues $2.44b below projections in Governor’s budget 1.usa.gov/K8NNDd #cabudget — CA State Controller (@CAController) May 8, 2012

Why a Minnesota lawmaker – who happens to be a sports economist – voted against taxpayer money for Vikings stadium ti.me/JpukwG — Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) May 9, 2012

Glendale, Arizona taxpayers can’t ignore the NHL’s Coyotes — and their $12.9m projected annual loss for the city. on.wsj.com/JfsFrT — Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 9, 2012