Remember when every Republican governor was howling that public pensions were going to destroy state finances and had to be diminished or eliminated? Remember how every right-wing commentator and columnist reinforced that belief loudly and vociferously? C’mon, it was only about six months ago: you remember that.

Only, it wasn’t true. The National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems just issued a report (.pdf) which says, in part:

Public pension funds are experiencing a robust recovery from the historic market downturn of 2008-2009 — reporting strong investment returns, growing assets and funding levels on track to meet obligations,” said the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems.

The group, the largest trade association for public sector pensions, surveyed state and local systems representing 7.6 million people and assets exceeding $900 billion.

It found that over the last year, funds have achieved an annual investment return of 13.5 percent, nearly double the 7.7 percent rate most assume. On average, said NCPERS, pension systems are 76.1 percent funded, meaning they can cover more than three-quarters of liabilities. Typically, pensions are considered fully funded when they surpass 80 percent.

Gosh, you mean if the economy improves and financial asset values increase, pension funds’ asset values also increase and states’ liabilities to those funds drop correspondingly? What a surprise!

And, as I’ve said before and as the author of the Salon article linked above says, economic growth increases tax revenues and reduces deficits. It really is pretty simple. It’s shameful that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats want to take action to do anything about that.