They have known for years that the pensions were unsustainable.
They did know, but kept ratcheting them up to win votes and funnel money back to the Democratic Party via teachers’ union dues.
As a taxpayer I have no problem with those pensions not being honored at all; if the retirees have an issue with that they can chase down the politicians, and even voters, that made those promises to them.
Exactly right. There are a number of states that have fully-funded pension plans. Most of them have some element of public employee contribution. Several states, notably Illinois, New York, and New Jersey are hoplessly undefunded to the point of being insolvent. And the state’s own actuarial reports show it. The politicians know full well what they are doing, but don’t have the political will to say “no” to the public employee unions.
Speaking of which, anyone know what Jimmy Hoffa did time for? It was looting the Teamster’s Central State Pension Fund. He and his mob buddies treated it like their private slush fund . The politicians in Illinois, New York and New Jersey are doing the same thing.