Anti-Tech Bills To Cause Up To $109 Billion In Losses To Pension Plans For Nurses, Firefighters, And Other Public Workers
A recent economic analysis by CCIA shows that proposed antitrust bills would seriously cost U.S. investors and pension plan members including nurses, firefighters, and other public sector workers. Extending the methodology employed in a study by NERA Economics, CCIA found that by the late 2030s, the market value for regulated companies would decrease significantly—causing up to $109 billion in losses to public sector pension plans for these workers. An interactive map breaks down the cost to each states’ pension plan here.
Here’s what you need to know:
Anti-tech bills would cost pension plans $109 billion in lost value—an average of up to $3,928 per pension member. “The enactment of the bills would harm these pension plans to the tune of up to $109 billion in lost value from securities holdings by the late 2030s. This aggregate decreased valuation would imply an average loss of up to $3,928 per pension plan member.”
These bills would have a negative impact on the companies in which pension plans invest, potentially impacting the pensions of 27.9 million American workers. “[T]hese changes in U.S. law would impact state and local government employee pension plans, whose assets fund the retirement benefits relied upon by 27.9 million American workers. [Leading technology] stocks are in many cases the top holdings of these pension funds. On average, 86% of these pension plans count these five [leading technology] companies among their top 10 holdings.”
The bottom line: “Americans would be harmed by these proposals.” “As both investors and consumers, Americans would be harmed by these proposals. Increasing costs on impacted businesses would likely result in higher retail prices and loss of free services for consumers. Narrowing the projected harm to a single firm in the retail market, the study shows that the resulting harm to consumers would be up to $22 billion per year, equivalent to $148 per consumer per year. A simple lifetime annuity paying consumers $148 annually could be valued at up to $4,358, which is a reasonable upper bound on the lifetime consumer welfare harm per consumer for each impacted service. Therefore, for an individual who uses this service and is also a state and local government employee pension plan member, bills like S. 2992 and H.R. 3816 would thus be expected to harm them by up to $8,286 (as consumers, by more than $4,358, and as retirement plan members, by up to $3,928).”
See Springboard’s post on the economic impact study by NERA Economics for more information on the impacts of anti-tech bills.