WHAT KIND OF 'BUDGET CRISIS' IS IT WHEN A STATE HAS 123 BILLION IN CASH?

The kind where they need to break down the unions more and rob MORE of OUR money!

Wisconsin’s Real Financial Situation Explained

 

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13 Votes

The following is a list of totals reported in the Wisconsin State Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. The individual funds and investments that make up these totals are listed in detail below these fund “totals”. All of this is sourced from the state’s 2010 CAFR, which can be downloaded at the state governments website, here: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/subcategory.asp?linksubcatid=374&locid=3 It may also be viewed online here: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/23131666/Wisconsin-Comprehensive-Annual-Financial-Report Page numbers are listed, so you can follow along in the CAFR for verification, and my comments are in red. And now, the answer to the question… Is the State of Wisconsin bankrupt? First, let’s have a look at what Wisconsin has in its investment funds, which is not being reported to the taxpayers of the state or of America… (See below for explanation) ————————————————————————————————————– TOTAL PRIMARY GOVERNMENT “VARIOUS FUNDS” -> $4,403,000,000 TOTAL UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM (UW) FUND -> $365,800,000 TOTAL WISCONSIN HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY FUND -> $1,023,000,000 TOTAL UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AND CLINICCS AUTHORITY FUND -> $127,400,000 TOTAL STATE FAIR PARK EXPOSITION CENTER INC FUND -> $200,000 TOTAL WISCONSIN HEALTH CARE LIABILITY INSURANCE PLAN (WHCLIP) FUND -> $72,000,000 TOTAL UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION FUND -> $2,006,000,000 TOTAL STATE INVESTMENT FUND (SIF) -> $6,603,000,000 TOTAL IN THE RISK MANAGEMENT FUND -> $94,847,000 TOTAL NONMAJOR GOVERNMENTAL FUNDS -> $664,459,000 TOTAL NONMAJOR ENTERPRISE FUNDS listed as “All Nonmajor Funds” -> $1,446,072,000 TOTAL INTERNAL SERVICE FUNDS listed as “totals” -> $350,107,000 TOTAL PENSION AND OTHER EMPLOYEE BENEFIT TRUST FUNDS listed as “Totals” -> $66,937,157,000 TOTAL INVESTMENT TRUST FUNDS listed as “Totals” –> $2,606,398,000 TOTAL PRIVATE-PURPOSE TRUST FUNDS listed as “Totals” –> $2,265,681,000 TOTAL AGENCY FUNDS listed as “Totals” -> $334,837,000 —————————— TOTAL FUND INVESTMENTS (From above list) -> $89,299,958,000 ————————————————————————————————————– (LISTED IN TABLE 3 CHANGES IN NET ASSETS) TOTAL NET ASSETS -> $11,693,400,000 TOTAL CAPITAL ASSETS (WITHOUT DEDUCTIONS FOR LONG-TERM LIABILITIES) -> $22,487,900,000 —————————— TOTAL NET ASSETS -> $34,181,300,000 ————————————————————————————————————– TOTAL ASSETS (CAPITAL AND INVESTMENTS) FOUND IN 2010 STATE CAFR -> $123,481,258,000 ————————————————————————————————————– Note: This should not be construed to be a representation of all hidden wealth and investments within the state government of Wisconsin, but rather the ones that jump off the page to the semi-trained eye. Revenue bonds and other investment assets and future profits are still beyond my scope of translation. But to put this state government wealth into perspective… The population of the state of Wisconsin as of 2010 was 5,686,986 people. The above figure of over $123 Billion represents investments and capital net assets, which total $21,712 per person in the state of Wisconsin. Remember… many of those people are kids with no income! This summary compilation of the wealth of the state of Wisconsin is for one purpose: to show exactly what the Wisconsin state government is holding in cash and liquid investments, and not hiding this wealth by stating what their “future obligations” are. So the above figure is what the state had in actual assets, cash, and investments as of June 30, 2010, after liabilities were already paid, and not what it will spend later (which is just their way to hide this current wealth as reported by attaching its value to future financial obligations). Compare this with your exact personal bank account balance today, not what it will be next week or in 5 years (or once future bills are paid with future checks). This is the balance today, and it includes your savings and investments at their value today, not in the future. While the State government will tell us that these funds are designated or “restricted” to the funds that house them, there is no law that says this is the case, and they are transferred between each fund (intra-fund) all of the time. Do not let these crooks tell you that these funds and investments are restricted without proof. SHOW US THE LAW! This is rightly taxpayer money, and it could and should be used for taxpayer purposes. Instead, it is being withheld from the public (taxpayers), invested in these funds, and used for “business activities” within this for-profit corporation known as the “State of Wisconsin”. There is no reason that any government (meaning the people; the public) should be in debt, at all, with this kind of hidden wealth. The state of Wisconsin is obviously far from bankrupt! ————————————————————————————————————– ***Note: This is just the state corporation (government), and does not include the counties, municipal corporations (cities), towns, school districts, and other corporate governments within the state of Wisconsin. Each of these “governments” has their own investments, funds, and assets, which are listed separately on each of their CAFR’s. The assets of all of these individual government corporations within the state do not appear on the state CAFR. There are 72 counties in the State of Wisconsin. There are 190 cities (municipal corporations) in the State of Wisconsin (as of 2006). There are 1,260 towns in the State of Wisconsin (some the same as cities). There are 370 school districts in the State of Wisconsin (approx). All of these are different government corporations. All of these have separate CAFR’s. Malls, movie theaters, golf courses, most other commercial real estate entities, electric and gas companies, water and sewage companies, universities and colleges, parks and zoos, parking meters and garages, toll roads and bridges, and many other types of government owned businesses are all part of individual governments listed in their CAFRs. The total wealth of the state of Wisconsin can only truly be measured by adding up the investments, assets, funds, enterprise operations (businesses), and other government wealth and investments within each of these individual corporate governments, through each county and local government Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. ————————————————————————————————————– ***Note: There is a rabid defense of pension funds by the government employees who benefit from them, and of course by the government who controls and profits from them and their investments. But it is important to understand that the money that is being contributed to these pension funds is also taxpayer money. In 2009, the amount contributed to the Wisconsin Retirement System by state employees was $736,689,000. But the amount contributed by taxpayers who are not employees of any state office (ordinary taxpaying citizens) was $632,706,000. In other words, over $632 million in taxpayer money went to support this pension fund system in the form of government employer contributions, which could have gone to support government activities that would support the taxpayers themselves or to pay off debt. Government Employers are funded with taxpayer money. Thus their contributions are coming from taxpayer money. Simple. The Wisconsin Retirement System pension fund made a $10.5 Billion dollar profit (return on investment) in fiscal year 2009, and a $5.4 Billion dollar profit in fiscal year 2010. This was after all benefits and liabilities were paid for the year. This money is in no way benefiting the taxpayers of the state. This was pure profit for the fund – the return on investments!!! ***Note: This is what I could find looking at the Wisconsin State CAFR, and represents the assets and investments as reported by the state at the end of fiscal year 2010, which ended June 30, 2010. Thus, these are the totals as of that date (06/30/10) – which is the latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report available for viewing to the public. This took two full days of reading and research to acquire. While I made every attempt at accuracy, I have no financial background. Crosschecking my accuracy and verifying if I accidentally reported any items twice is suggested. You have the report at your fingertips… -Clint Richardson- March 1, 2011 ————————————————————————————————————– The information below is pulled straight from the 2010 CAFR for the State of Wisconsin… Download here: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/subcategory.asp?linksubcatid=374&locid=3 (My comments are in red) ————————————————————————————————————– (Page 19) FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS — PRIMARY GOVERNMENT The State of Wisconsin, like the rest of the nation, experienced an economic decline that persisted from Fiscal Year 2009 in to Fiscal Year 2010. To assist in stimulating the economy, the federal 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided tax relief and additional funding for approximately 132 federal programs administered by at least 16 different state agencies. Both events impacted the financial results reported for the State. Government-wide (Tables 2 and 3 on Pages 22 and 23) • Net Assets. The assets of the State of Wisconsin exceeded its liabilities at the close of Fiscal Year 2010 by $11.7 billion (reported as “net assets”). Of this amount, $(9.9) billion was reported as “unrestricted net assets”. A positive balance in unrestricted net assets would represent the amount available to be used to meet a government’s ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors. • Changes in Net Assets. The State’s total net assets decreased by $29.3 million in Fiscal Year 2010. Net assets of governmental activities increased by $31.7 million or 0.6 percent, while net assets of the business-type activities showed a decrease of $61.0 million or 1.0 percent. • Excess of Revenues over (under) Expenses — Governmental Activities. During Fiscal Year 2010, the State’s total revenues for governmental activities of $26.2 billion were $1.3 billion more than total expenses (excluding transfers) for governmental activities of $24.9 billion. Of these expenses, $12.6 billion were covered by program revenues. General revenues, generated primarily from various taxes, totaled $13.6 billion. Note: The State of Wisconsin, as listed under Table 3: “Changes in Net Assets”, earned $34.84 Billion in tax-based revenues, which represents a $3.89 Billion increase in revenue generation for the state. In other words, the state government through its business activities related to taxpayers earned over 3.8 billion dollars more profit than they did in the 2009 fiscal year at the taxpayers expense (See Table 3 on page 23 of the CAFR). This Financial Highlights section makes it appear that the Wisconsin government is in trouble, but I assure you this is not the case. Net assets of the State are listed here as well at $11,693,400,000. But this does not include the funds we will be going over starting now… REST AT THE LINK BUT WHEN YOU CRACK OPEN THE COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT YOU SEE THIE BUDGET CRISIS IS BULLSHIT! http://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/wisconsins-real-financial-situation-explained/