Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Saturday, May 5, 2012
Bankrupt Marianas Islands Pension Fund Advisor Vanishes
By Selected News Articles @ 7:35 PM :: 7708 Views :: National News, Ethics

South Pacific Fund Has Sinking Feeling

Mariana Islands Is First U.S. Pension System in Bankruptcy

by Michael Corkery, WSJ (excerpts)

The Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean, managed to recover from brutal World War II battles, but its public pension fund couldn't recover from the financial crisis.

The islands' retirement system on April 17 became the first U.S. public pension fund to seek bankruptcy protection.

The reasons cited for the pension fund's collapse are numerous, ranging from exceedingly generous benefits, to inadequate contributions to the fund by the islands' government, to what some retirees allege in a lawsuit was bad investment advice from the fund's advisers, Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch.

Complicating matters, the Merrill executive who most-closely dealt with the fund reportedly fell overboard while fishing in waters off Hawaii last September, and has yet to be found. …

…About 10% of the islands' 53,000 residents are pensioners or government workers who are owed a pension when they retire. The population includes a mix of transplants from the U.S. mainland, Asians and descendants of the original Chamorro people….

For years, government officials expanded pension perks in the Northern Mariana Islands. Children of retirees, for example, can collect a portion of their pensions when their parents die. One retiree adopted 10 of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren so they could qualify for pension payments, said a person familiar with the matter.

The fund lent money to islanders to buy homes and to the government to upgrade a courthouse, according to a people familiar with the matter.

Today, about half of the home mortgages the pension fund doled out are delinquent, according to Wilshire Associates. The pension fund has a lien on the courthouse in Saipan because its loan is also delinquent.

Pension officials recently tried to sell the fund's mortgage portfolio but couldn't find any buyers. Any deal is complicated by the fact that only people of Northern Mariana descent can acquire property on the island, making it difficult for an investor to foreclose on a property.

 

read … About Hawaii’s Future

 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT