Dallas Police and Fire pension members may have to pay back funds

Bernie Madoff, it's a name now often bandied about when talking about the failing Dallas Police and Fire Pension fund.

"The reality of it is that it was a Bernie Madoff type scheme," says Lee Kleinman, a city council member and former pension board trustee.

"We're looking at it as a prepayment of their future pension that is something above and beyond what the other cities were paying," outgoing City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said Thursday.

The city is looking at a proposal to take back all the interest earned by police and firefighters that would amount to around one billion dollars.

All I got to say is good luck with that plan. People are going to hold on dearly to their 'hard earned money'.

How do you know if you're pension fund is a ponzi scheme? Just compare it to the Dallas one.

The Dallas pension fund was created in the early 90's, it allow police and firefighters to retire WHILE STILL ON THE JOB(completely insane) and garenteed an 8% to 10% return on investments(ponzi schemes 101). Even in these low interest years the pension fund has paid out this high interest.

I believe this a just the tip of the iceberg with the pension system. Most of these cities have bloated budgets and a shrinking tax base due to 8 years of declining real wages. If you're in one of these types of pension funds do yourself a favor and retire early while there's still time.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/dallas-police-and-fire-pension-members-may-have-to-pay-back-funds/382652927