Is PERS Fair to Current State Employees?  Part 2

PERS Part 2

A critical question for current and future PERS retirees and the state of Mississippi is this:  Can PERS continue to pay its retiree obligations, its generous and growing COLA (13thcheck) and also rebuild its corpus to be there for the current employees who will be retiring in the decades to come?

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PERS Investment Manager Fees Part 1

PERS Investment

Like most pension funds, the PERS plan pays a fee to investment managers to help the plan realize maximum earnings potential.  Since 2009, PERS has paid more than $647 million in fees to outside money managers. Comparing PERS of Mississippi with three of its neighbors, the amount paid to the plan’s money managers has been on the increase over the decade.

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2019 Mississippi River Flood: One for the Records

2019 1973 MS River Flood Comparison

If there were a Hall of Infamy for Mississippi River Floods, 2019 would certainly be the in the top 1 or 2 of the past century.  Thankfully, most of the levee system held so 2019 was perhaps not as dramatic as 1927 but damage was widespread and extensive.  Higher water for longer equals higher odds of greater damage and loss in the future.

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If the Mississippi River Won’t Drain, Pull the Drain Plug

MS River Bathtub Drain

Since 2016, Bigger Pie (BPF) has warned repeatedly that water reaches the Lower Mississippi River (MSR) faster than it can get out to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Isn’t it time to either remove the plugs in the Lower MSR or to open the other drain —Old River Control Structure?

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The Mississippi River — A New Normal

Mississippi River A New Normal

Why is the river so high in July?  Why has the MSR from below Natchez to north past Vicksburg been 4-5 ft. higher on average over the past decade during low water months than it was 50 years ago?

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BPF’s View on the Yazoo Backwater Pumps

Yazoo Backwater Pumps

The Pumps will pour water out of the Delta’s boot over the levee at Vicksburg onto people below.  They will make flooding higher and longer inside the levee.  Landowners in the Delta outside the levee will benefit.  Landowners inside the levee will suffer. The pumps won’t increase the discharge to the Gulf. They just pass the flood downriver onto someone else. That’s the history of other divisive Corps flood control projects.  That’s why the river is full now.

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A Deep Dive Into the Lower Mississippi River

A Deep Dive Into the Missississippi River

Much of the Mississippi between Natchez and Venice, LA is below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. A large portion of the river from Donaldsonville to Venice is below the BOTTOM of the entrance leading to the Gulf of Mexico.

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