Trump v. United States, a Crime in Plain Sight

What does the United States do when justices on the Supreme Court conspire to obstruct the legitimate prosecution of a criminal?

Trump v. United States

The Supreme Court issued an opinion, “Trump v. United States” on July 1,2024. The six Republican justices signed on to the majority opinion. The three Democratic justices filed damming dissents.

The Court’s decision is illogical, without basis in statute, deceptive in its use of civil immunity and separation of powers, and is in clear opposition to the words of the U.S. Constitution (Article3, Section 3), “he (the president) shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. See quote below.

Laws are drafted by the Congress and signed into law or vetoed by the President, an equal partner in the process. Legislation is a joint effort by both parties. There is no separation of powers in the passage of laws. In addition, the Constitution directs the president to enforce the laws that he/she has helped enact.

Opinions of the Supreme Court have never been thought of as criminal action.

In Trump v. United States, however, we must seriously consider the reality that the six Republican justices chose to fabricate an obstacle to the legal process of pursuing a criminal prosecution of a former Republican president. Three of those justices were appointed by the same former Republican president who is currently in this case under indictment for four counts of conspiracy and obstruction.

In short, this opinion is so devoid of honest legal logic that it is corrupt.

Accomplice After the Fact

The decisions to grant an appeal to Trump, the delay in issuing the decision, and the decision to grant him immunity from official acts and presumptive immunity for other acts are grounds for an indictment of the six Republican justices under 18 U.S. Code Section 3, Accomplice After the Fact. See quote below.

An accessory-after-the-fact is someone who assists

1. someone who has committed a crime,
2. after the person has committed the crime,
3. with knowledge that the person committed the crime, and
4. with the intent to help the person avoid arrest or punishment.

An accessory after the fact may be held liable for, among other things, obstruction of justice.

A Supreme Court justice has never been indicted in the 236 years of the Republic. It is clear, however, that these six justices have committed a crime. I am not sure whether the six justices considered whether they could be held criminally liable for an opinion that was fraudulent.

Opinions are not infallible. Many are clearly biased but to prevent chaos the parties bend to the decision even if flawed.

This case, however, is profoundly different. It drives a stake into the heart of the Constitution. We have the plaintiff, a former Republican president accused of crimes against the country in violation to his oath of office, claiming immunity from criminal laws that the Congress and the President have enacted, and the six Republican Supreme Court justices falsely giving him a “get out of jail free card”. This puts the entire Constitution and the United States in jeopardy. For the sake of the Republic, we must prosecute this opinion as a crime.

In the end, the justices are all subject to the laws of the United States. These six justices must be held criminally accountable.

I suspect that the Department of Justice is considering this action and that is why Jack Smith asked for a three week delay.

Notes

U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 3.

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

18 U.S. Code § 3 - Accessory after the fact

Whoever, knowing that an offense against the United States has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.

Except as otherwise expressly provided by any Act of Congress, an accessory after the fact shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or (notwithstanding section 3571) fined not more than one-half the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the principal, or both; or if the principal is punishable by life imprisonment or death, the accessory shall be imprisoned not more than 15 years.

Employers Should Hire Medicare to Manage Health Insurance Benefits

Proposal

Major employers who want to provide health insurance to their employees should seriously consider pushing for a process to enable Medicare to manage paying the medical bills for their employees and then have the employer reimburse Medicare for the charges with a 3% administrative charge. The employer can choose to cover the full cost or have the employees contribute part of the cost.

Medicare is accepted by most doctors and hospitals all over the United States. In my opinion Medicare is arguably the best health insurance in the US even at 80% coverage. The non covered 20% can be purchased at approximately $200 per month. There are no pre-approval obstacles for needed treatments. Medicare has a good reputation for paying promptly. And the reimbursements to Medicare would be significantly lower than the payments for commercial health insurance. The trend line for Medicare annual cost increases is much lower than commercial insurance.

Annual Medical Cost Data for NYC Employees and Retirees

I recently posted a note outlining the increased cost for health insurance for NYC employees and retirees for the FY-2014 to FY-2023 period. I have done further analysis on the cost data from OLR for the period from 2014 to 2024 period.

Using the GHI charge for Senior Care (20% of the amount paid by Medicare) the health insurance cost for the average Medicare retiree & family in FY-2014 was $12,999 based on the $2,599 payment to Senior Care.

The full cost in FY-2024 was $16,404 based on the $3,280 payment to Senior Care. That was a 26% increase over ten years.

In contrast, the cost for the average employee and family was $10,949 in FY-2014 and $24,325 in FY-2024 (GHI coverage). That is a 122% increase over ten years

The cost of the average non-Medicare retiree and family was $13,080 in FY-2014 and $28,539 in FY-2024 (GHI coverage). That is a 118% increase over ten years.

Medicare retirees usually have more health benefit claims than employees but have smaller families. So, the levels of claims are probably very comparable but not the costs. EmblemHeath administers GHI coverage for NYC. NYC pays EmblemHeath 96% of its $8.4B annual health insurance costs.

Recap

NYC Average Annual Health Insurance Costs

	FY-2014	FY- 2024	% increase over 10 years
Senior Care Costs (20%)	$2,599	$3,280	26%
100% Medicare Retiree Costs	$12,999	$16,404	26%
Employee Costs	$10,949	$24,325	122%
Non- Medicare Retiree	$13,080	$28,539	118%

Reality Finally Caught Up With the NYCERS Budget: FY-2004 to FY-2025

In a June 17, 2022 posting, I outined the history of NYCERS administrative budget.

On May 9, 2024, the NYCERS trustess adopted the FY-2025 admin budget.

It was a 0.05% increase over the FY-2023 budget. See the updated table below. The City finally put the brakes on the NYCERS administrative budget.

Interestingly, the fringe benefit amount increased by 20.74% from the FY-2024 amount. In a very contrary way, NYCERS has significantly underspent its budget appropriation since 2019:

• 2023 - $105.8M
• 2022 - $105.0M
• 2021 - $84.4M
• 2020 - $77.7M

History of NYCERS Admin Budget 1996-2025

Fiscal Year	F/T Count	P/T Count	College Aides / Hourly	PS Budget	OTPS Budget	Fringe	Total	% Increase
2025	501	30	16	$53,679,194	$95,900,865	$16,461,953	$166,042,012	00.05%
2024	501	30	16	$54,290,508	$98,040,138	$13,633,903	$165,964,549	13.37%
2023	485	30	16	$43,016,089	$90,436,500	$12,942,144	$146,394,733	7.92%
2022	483	30	16	$38,397,943	$85,531,063	$11,719,465	$135,648,471	37.94%
2021	474	27	16	$36,842,549	$50,210,145	$11,283,945	$98,336,639	7.10%
2020	438	27	16	$35,262,139	$45,862,557	$10,689,350	$91,814,046	4.97%
2019	428	5	30	$33,592,612	$43,532,302	$10,344,565	$87,469,479	39.44%
2018	411	5	30	$31,704,410	$21,832,718	$9,194,015	$62,731,143	3.55%
2017	401	5	30	$31,056,080	$20,916,796	$8,605,288	$60,578,164	4.81%
2016	392	5	30	$30,233,989	$19,407,619	$8,155,517	$57,797,125	4.70%
2015	392	5	30	$29,131,972	$18,154,572	$7,915,476	$55,202,020	3.68%
2014	383	5	30	$26,813,635	$18,761,240	$7,669,819	$53,244,694	2.18%
2013	380	5	20	$26,623,635	$17,951,822	$7,532,499	$52,107,956	1.93%
2012	372	12	0	$25,756,827	$18,781,428	$6,603,649	$51,122,139	1.14%
2011	372	12	0	$26,046,827	$18,492,228	$6,006,573	$50,545,628	2.76%
2010	372	12	0	$26,046,827	$17,777,228	$5,362,640	$49,186,695	1.88%
2009	371	13	0	$25,189,842	$18,208,861	$4,879,903	$48,278,606	6.22%
2008	371	13	0	$23,597,857	$17,259,313	$4,799,066	$45,656,236	10.80%
2007	364	13	0	$22,616,783	$14,258,471	$4,375,788	$41,251,042	5.73%
2006	342	13	0	$20,255,911	$14,683,855	$4,076,823	$39,016,589	1.01%
2005	342	13	0	$19,737,687	$14,851,355	$3,887,624	$38,476,666	***
2004	334	13	0					***
***								***
1996	154	0	30	$6,199,709	$2,573,715	na	$8,773,424	***

History: NYCERS Administrative Expenses - 2000 to 2023

The following is a chart of NYCERS administrative expenses from 2000. The information comes from NYCERS Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

As a point of reference NYCERS had an annual budget of $8.8M in FY-1996, the last year NYCERS was part of the city budget.

NYCERS Admin Expenses

Fiscal Year	Personnel Expenses	Contracts & Consultants	Phone, Mail, & Printing	Rentals	Software, Hardware, Support, Supplies, & Maintenance	Depreciation & Credits	Total
FY-2023	$57,736,915	$19,910,959	$1,037,015	$9,282,322	$17,825,949	$0	$105,793,160
FY-2022	$52,303,943	$27,418,528	$1,029,424	$9,329,701	$14,906,397	$0	$104,987,993
FY-2021	$48,693,043	$14,058,975	$1,290,546	$6,617,040	$16,753,334	$0	$87,412,938
FY-2020	$45,736,806	$11,337,750	$1,173,896	$6,870,614	$12,548,240	$0	$77,667,306
FY-2019	$43,717,712	$15,884,418	$1,114,263	$6,637,059	$14,719,873	$0	$82,073,325
FY-2018	$40,444,145	$4,310,427	$1,072,077	$6,348,888	$7,513,233	$0	$59,688,770
FY-2017	$39,505,894	$3,829,758	$1,561,282	$5,909,352	$8,864,342	$0	$59,670,628
FY-2016	$37,950,289	$4,687,929	$1,360,397	$5,453,383	$7,230,989	$0	$56,682,988
FY-2015	$37,368,409	$3,652,154	$1,336,002	$5,037,893	$7,239,560	$0	$54,635,018
FY-2014	$33,571,938	$3,773,082	$1,269,387	$4,863,720	$6,952,691	$0	$50,430,818
FY-2013	$33,064,087	$3,102,385	$1,078,411	$4,674,442	$6,797,095	$0	$48,666,420
FY-2012	$32,623,085	$3,088,256	$1,096,186	$4,796,584	$9,780,637	$0	$51,384,748
FY-2011	$31,748,443	$4,108,186	$995,415	$4,741,621	$4,780,811	$0	$46,374,476
FY-2010	$31,527,659	$5,434,495	$1,041,471	$4,278,903	$6,678,071	$715,000	$49,675,599
FY-2009	$30,187,604	$4,043,775	$914,311	$4,047,949	$8,198,354	$1,430,000	$48,821,993
FY-2008	$28,344,427	$6,401,745	$997,316	$4,138,211	$5,687,716	$1,430,000	$46,999,415
FY-2007	$27,123,219	$2,677,793	$1,055,233	$5,203,902	$4,205,095	$1,430,000	$41,695,242
FY-2006	$24,992,543	$3,124,688	$1,497,895	$4,797,895	$4,472,246	$1,430,132	$40,291,469
FY-2005	$24,474,710	$3,039,970	$827,277	$4,454,258	$3,118,356	$1,430,296	$37,306,867
FY-2004	$22,631,504	$3,124,800	$845,391	$4,192,543	$3,376,187	$1,430,000	$35,559,081
FY-2003						$1,430,000	$34,101,000
FY-2002						$1,430,000	$31,548,000
FY-2001						$1,430,000	$31,584,000
FY-2000	$15,990,745	$1,587,290	$718,686	$1,531,536	$2,691,719	$725,000	$23,244,976

From Bad To Worse

On April 30, 2024, the NYC Comptroller announced new asset allocations for the five NYC pension funds. This announcement boils down to a statement that four of the five pension systems are going to reduce their % of stock holdings and increase their % of garbage assets, otherwise known as "alternative assets". Why would anyone invest in garbage? That is a key question.

The pension trustees, which included the Comptroller, would have you believe their current asset allocations are doing well and that they are going to make them better.

Of course, there is no analysis of the investment performance of the current asset allocations, whether it is better than a basic 60/40 stock and bond asset allocation and whether the new asset allocation will make things better.

That is because that the current asset allocation is doing worse than the basic asset allocation and that an expansion of the current asset allocation will only make the deficit worse.

I won't even get into issue of runaway investment fees for the garbage asset class.

History: Health Insurance Costs for NYC Employees and Retirees for FY-2023 and FY-2014

Based on reports from the NYC Office of Labor Relations, NYC spent the following amounts on helath insurance for FY-2023 and FY-2014.

The amounts do not include payment for the Housing Authority (HA) or the Health and Hospitals Corp. (HHC).
It also does not include payments to retirees for refunds of Part B premiums that the retirees pay to Medicare every month (est. $415M from City funds for FY-2023).

Health Insurance Costs

Group	FY-2023		FY-2014
Employees	$5.580B		$3.009B
Non-Medicare Retirees	$1.619B		$0.787B
Medicare Retirees	$0.452B		$0.357B
Total	$7.651B		$4.152B

It is clear that the City's costs for health insurance are rising. But what the City doesn't make clear is that it is the costs for employees and non-Medicare retirees that have gone up significantly. While the costs for Medicare retirees has increased $100M over ten years, the number of Medicare retirees increased by 22,400.

Average annual cost per contract:

• Employees
  • 2014 -- $10,862
  • 2023 -- $21,107
• Non-Medicare Retirees
  • 2014 -- $13,271
  • 2023 -- $25,571
• Medicare Retirees
  • 2014 -- $2,550
  • 2023 -- $2,840

Number of Contracts including HHC and HA

Group	FY-2023		FY-2014
Employees	325,434		335,381
Non-Medicare Retirees	76,376		71,434
Medicare Retirees	191,536		168,657
Total	593,346		575,472

Emblemhealth

In 2005, GHI and HIP merged to form Emblemhealth. In FY-2023, the City paid 96% of its health insurance costs to Embelemhealth ($7,488 out of $7,651).

Average annual cost for GHI anf HIP per contract including HHC and HA:

• Employees
  • GHI
    • 2014 -- $10,949
    • 2023 -- $22,616
  • HIP
    • 2014 -- $10,517
    • 2023 -- $17,913
• Non-Medicare Retirees
  • GHI
    • 2014 -- $13,080
    • 2023 -- $26,546
  • HIP
    • 2014 -- $14,140
    • 2023 -- $20,266
• Medicare Retirees
  • GHI
    • 2014 -- $2,599
    • 2023 -- $3,277
  • HIP
    • 2014 -- $2,318
    • 2023 -- $129

The $129 amount is not a typo. In 2022, Emblemhealth changed the monthly amount per contract for the HIP Mediacre Advantage coverge to $7.50. Why? I suspect that it was because of competitive pressure.

In Plain Sight - Growing Risk Level in NYCERS Investments and Runaway Fees.

Runaway Investments fees

In FY-2000 NYCERS paid $37.4 million in investment fees for an asset base of $42.8 billion.

In FY-2023 NYCERS paid $489.9 million in investment fees for an asset base of $82.4 billion.

The numbers speak for themselves. There is no benefit to these radically increased fees. Clearly, twice the $37.4 million in fees from FY2000 could cover the $82.4 billion in assets for FY-2023. But the current trustees have no idea what was going on in 2000.

This is a big part of the income inequality in America. This story is not just about NYCERS but every public pension plan in America.

Increasing Investment Risk

In a prior post from January 2020, I outlined a new accounting reporting requirement for government pension plans (GASB 72) mandating that plans report a breakdown of the reliability of the reported value of the plan's investments. The assets are broken down into 3 levels as listed below:

• Level-1 assets - open market - very liquid
• Level-2 assets - open market - not as liquid
• Level- 3 and NAV assets - no open market - not liquid

In addition to these crazy fees noted above, the risky Level-3 assets at NYCERS have grown steadily since 2015. On top of this growth in risky assets, this year there was a law passed in Albany to raise the limit (from 25% to 35%) on the amount of Level 3 and NAV assets in a NYS public pension plan.

In the table below you will see the growth for Level-3 and NAV class assets at NYCERS.

Note: As of FY-2023 NYCERS is relabeling alternative investments as net asset value items rather than Level 3 as a "practical expedient". This is a PR sleight of hand. Nobody wants to be called Level-3. "NAV" is a lot more vague. $19.8 billion (25% of the portfolio) for Level-3 and NAV assets is an obvious red flag for the risk level of the portfolio. You can be sure that $19.8B is the upper bound for this class and that a 50% reduction is a real possibility.

Ranking of NYCERS Assets via GASB 72

Fiscal Year	Level-1 Assets (in thousands)	Level-2 Assets	Level-3 Assets	Assets at Net Asset Value	Total
FY-2014	$27,028,432	$17,437,139	$10,642,729	$0	$55,108,300
FY-2015	$27,707,076	$17,175,757	$10,796,968	$0	$55,679,801
FY-2016	$27,330,534	$15,924,399	$10,377,791	$1,123,861	$54,756,585
FY-2017	$32,312,375	$17,461,428	$10,914,801	$95,987	$60,784,591
FY-2018	$31,219,885	$23,282,843	$10,880,803	$66,675	$65,450,206
FY-2019	$34,128,310	$22,782,825	$11,534,369	$6,979	$68,452,483
FY-2020	$33,647,567	$24,941,479	$11,856,921	$3,735	$70,449,703
FY-2021	$42,162,979	$30,981,818	$14,845,548	$1,240	$88,091,585
FY-2022	$32,892,068	$26,386,373	$18,726,172	$1,129	$78,005,742
FY-2023	$35,986,966	$25,235,457	$461,156	$19,845,541	$81,529.120

Investment Expenses for the Assets by Quality for FY-2023

In FY-2023 NYCERS paid the following investment management fees for the different levels:

1. $54.7M for Level 1 assets (FY-2019 fees = $39.7M).
2. $25.0M for Level 2 assets (FY-2019 fees = $18.4M)
3. $375.0M for Level 3 and NAV assets (FY-2019 fees = $140.5M)

Again, the numbers speak for themselves. The trustees are being rolled big time - everywhere.