The Ghost Bomb Six {No.2}
MICHIGAN ... 2020 Early Spring Deaths, Astronomical Investment Gains in 2021 & Unexpected Mortality After the Vaccine Rollout
I have focused my current efforts on a very specific area - the historic investment gains that public pension plans saw in fiscal year 2021. These immense gains were largely made possible due to unprecedented actions taken by our financial authorities in this country during the early months of 2020. Whether or not there is a connection with these giant 2021 gains and my other big dot on the page - a significant increase in pension member mortality in 2021 (and after) - is up to you to decide.
As I explained in my first “The Ghost Bomb Six” post, this current examination is based on these observations:
In the spring of 2020 there were some places in this country that saw very unseasonal increased mortality. New York and New Jersey being the most notorious examples. I have called what happened in these 14 states (plus Washington D.C.) the “Ghost Bomb.”
In the following year (fiscal year 2021) many of these same places had huge windfalls in their public employee pension plans due to historic investment gains. (But to be fair, so did most U.S. state public pensions.)
These investment gains were happening simultaneously with additional increased member mortality into 2021 and beyond.
A look back at the solvency of these same pension plans in 2019 shows that many of these 14 locations that experienced the strange 2020 spring death surge were in pretty bad financial shape right before the pandemic hit … in fact, 6 of them were in the worst ten.
Those six are:
Massachusetts
Pension System Rank: 41
Michigan
Pension System Rank: 42
New Jersey
Pension System Rank: 44
Pennsylvania
Pension System Rank: 45
New York …
Pension System Rank: 46
Illinois
Pension System Rank: 49
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The pensions are ranked with 1=best, and 50=worst.
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With that said, let’s go to Michigan.
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*The blue highlight on April/May 2020 is the “Ghost Bomb” on the next graph.
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Source: Michigan Vitalstats
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There is an entity known as The State of Michigan Retirement Board.
“The State of Michigan Retirement Board
oversees retirement plans for state employees, judges, and military personnel, primarily under the State Employees’ Retirement Act, Public Act 240 of 1943. Managed by the Office of Retirement Services (ORS), this nine-member board directs policies for defined benefit (DB) plans.
Key Details About the Board:
Purpose: Governs the State Employees’ Retirement System (DB Plan) and the Judges’ Retirement System.
Structure: Comprised of nine members, including appointed, retiree, officer, and employee representatives.
Administration: The Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) handles the daily operations and administration.
Function: Ensures compliance with state laws regarding pensions for state workers.
The board acts as a fiduciary for the retirement funds, separate from the oversight of the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System.
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I tracked down a very interesting document at the Michigan government website regarding The State of Michigan Retirement Board . This official body, which oversees the administration of the pension funds, put together a retirement plan review. In it, at the very end, there is language that directly connects the policy of vaccination with expected economic outcomes.
Take a look.
(emphasis mine)
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STATE of MICHIGAN RETIREMENT BOARD MEETING PLAN REVIEW
March 25, 2021
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pages 14 & 15
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Very interesting don’t you think?
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There are two main pension groups in Michigan that represent the majority of all the state’s members. One is the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) and the other is the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS).
Here is a snippet about the PSERS:
March 23, 2022
“Michigan’s underfunded public school pension system had a great year in the market in 2021, but it still has a lot of catching up to do before it can meet its promises to retired school employees.
Auditors report the pension fund earned a net $15.895 billion on its investments in 2021. That compares to investment gains in 2020 of $2.920 billion.
In 2020 the pension fund was $35.0 billion short of the amount actuaries estimate it will need to cover its obligations to employees. The 2021 report shows the amount of underfunding declined to $24.2 billion, a 31% reduction in just one year.”
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So this particular pension fund in Michigan saw a very nice 13 billion dollar swing in their investment gains from 2020 to 2021!
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Some of you may recall that Michigan was one of those locations that kind of got this whole ball rolling. It was one of the places (along with Georgia) that I focused on in my post “Your Money … And Your Life.” So I have already done some digging there in relation to the other group, SERS.
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Michigan State Employee’s Retirement System
Annual Comprehensive Financial Report
for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2024
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Here is the relevant table from 2021 for what we are discussing:
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Here are graphs for the Death After Retirement and Investment gains and losses (see my original post for Michigan for all the source tables).
Do take notice of the language in the description for Death After Retirement:
“If retirants and inactive vested members live longer than assumed, there is a loss. If not as long, a gain.”
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Look at what happened in FY2021 … and continued into FY2022.
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On this next graph for the investment gains for the State Employee Retirement System (SERS), that is a 1.4 billion dollar swing from FY2020 to FY2021.
*A bit more modest compared to the PSERS’ 13 billion dollar turnaround, but pretty good.
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*In this next more obscure document, an actuarial valuation, for the same pension system (SERS), we are shown the “Market Rate of Return” for several past years.
FY2021 realized a very sizable 27.32% return on investment. The median rate of return for the previous five years was 8.35%.
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page C-5
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*This next graph is my staple members removed from rolls. This is representing the SERS group. As you can see, FY2021 had a bump up in the numbers removed.
And in case you are new to my work … that almost 99% of the time means they died.
Hey, no ChatGPT this time!
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But … WAIT!
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I thought I was going to hit send on this one, it has been extra tricky to put together for some reason. But I realized that I have not properly delved into the details for the PSERS yet - other than letting you know about that whopping 13 billion dollar swing in their investments from 2020 to 2021.
I have tracked down a separate set of annual reports for that group and will give you a similar breakdown as I did for the SERS.
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page 16
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All available past Gain / Loss tables:
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*The next table has the distinction of having the lone entry for Withdrawal From Employment (including death-in-service) that is a GAIN. Do check that. All the other tables have this as a LOSS.
That means that in fiscal year 2022 the “in-service” or still working members of the school pension system were dying so much that it took the actuaries off guard … to the tune of 47 million dollars.
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And we will have to look at the members removed before we end this:
page 91
A little closer, the red box is around FY2021 and FY2022:
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*that’s all you get, I think you can imagine the graph.
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*in case you have forgotten …
Pandemic Milestones:
January 20, 2020
-First covid case in the U.S.
December 11, 2020
-Pfizer Emergency Use Authorization
December 18, 2020
-Moderna Emergency Use Authorization
August 23, 2021
-Pfizer full FDA approval
December 2021 / January 2022
-CDC and FDA revise booster recommendations
-Rapid booster uptake
January 31, 2022
-Moderna full FDA approval
August 31, 2022
-FDA authorized Pfizer and Moderna’s new bivalent COVID booster vaccines
April 10, 2023
-Biden declares the end of the pandemic
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Sadly, just to think that EVERY digit counts for an unreported-on death mostly from those jabbed with Dr. MengeleFauci's Ouchies! 😥 And, . . .we really don't KNOW how much "shedding" from them is going on NOW. ??? We DO understand that the fabric of America is so weakened now. . .that anything BAD can suddenly happen! 😲 👍 Thank You for your exhausting work!
This is a lot of conscientious work that also supports your greater argument. And of course the pattern continues past 2021, ominously.