By John Reitmeyer, includes “Later this year, New Jersey will begin a planned lowering of the public-employee pension system’s assumed rate of return for its long-term investments. … A seemingly arcane aspect of fiscal planning, the change has important ramifications for the state’s budget, in addition to the pension system itself. It could also have political consequences, since the lowering of the assumed rate coincides with the ongoing effort to ramp up state pension funding to the full amount required by actuaries. …”