US Published National Debt
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The Truth
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Each Taxpayer's Share: $689,000
Financial Transparency Score Report
New TIA analysis issues scores to all 50 states based on how transparent they are with their finances.
Bill's Blog
Bill Bergman serves as TIA's Director of Research. He is responsible for managing TIA's federal project and State Data Lab's data base. Bergman spent 13 years as an economist and policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
New: Financial State of the States 2018
Click here to read Truth in Accounting's newest Financial State of the States report.
The Financial State of the 3 Largest U.S. Cities
See the financial condition of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.
State Data Lab
Compare all 50 states and the 75 most populous cities using more than 300 unique data variables.
Connecticut needs to defuse its retirement debt bomb
January 15, 2019
Hartford Courant
“Connecticut and several of its largest cities have become non-competitive, so businesses and people are voting with their feet. United Van Lines just rated Connecticut the second-highest percentage outbound state in 2018, exceeded only by New Jersey. … Connecticut needs to join the vast majority of states in setting retirement benefits by statute rather than through collective bargaining contracts.”
Republican governors prioritize SNAP work requirements
January 14, 2019
Watchdog
Prior to the new rules implemented by the Trump administration to strengthen work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), some Republican governor-led states had already begun implementing restrictions and eliminated the practice of submitting “geographic area waivers.”
GAO: State budget outlooks are grim
January 9, 2019
American Spectator
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) predicts a stormy fiscal future for state and local governments, with expenses expected to outpace revenues during the next five decades.
Public kept in the dark about city pension performance
January 15, 2019
Atlanta Journal Constitution
“… Lackluster results from some money managers was one reason the City Council in December 2017 voted to consolidate oversight of the general employees, police and fire retirement funds under a single board. … The city also said the move would improve transparency, so the public could be confident that the funds were being safeguarded. So far, the new board has failed to deliver on either count …”
The Trump tax law has big problems. Here’s one big reason why
January 15, 2019
The Center for Public Integrity
“… Why it needs fixing is most vividly illuminated by contrasting it with another massive piece of tax legislation, the Reagan-era Tax Reform Act of 1986. … But in terms of how the bills were developed, deliberated and drafted by Congress — not to mention their substance — the bills could not be less alike. And therein lies an illuminating — some would say frightening — story. To wit, the 1986 bill took two years to create, with lawmakers holding dozens and dozens of hearings and taking testimony from thousands of witnesses.”
Seeing pension costs should be easy
January 9, 2019
Top1000funds.com
Investment regulations for pension schemes in the UK take their lead from the European Union Directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision. Investments must be made in the “best interests of scheme members and any potential conflict of interest must be resolved in their favour”.
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