US. The Death Of Public Pension Transparency
Forensic investigations reveal that public pensions in states such as Pennsylvania, California, Tennessee, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and, most recently, Ohio, have long abandoned transparency, choosing instead to collaborate with Wall Street firms to eviscerate state public records laws and avoid accountability to stakeholders.
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Predictably, billions that could have been used to pay government workers retirement benefits have been squandered.
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Transparency in government has long been acknowledged in America as essential to a healthy democracy. On the federal level, the Freedom of Information Act opens up the workings of government to public scrutiny, giving citizens information they need to evaluate and criticize government decision-making.
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All 50 states also have public records laws which allow members of the public to obtain documents and other public records from state and local government bodies. State public records laws are built upon the United States’ historical position that the records of government are “the people’s records.”
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