Swirling around and down here in DuPage county.
More here:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bankrupt-illinois-cities-forced-cut-services-fund-pensions
Here we go.
Soon we’ll all be working paying taxes getting little or no services, so that gov workers can retire on 6-figures at age 55.
Lake County here. I feel our pain bro.
A resident sez...
“My house burned down and the fire department didn’t even bother showing up!”
“But their pensions are safe...”
I’d feel sorry for public employees, but I know too many.
And with only one exception, they don’t care how much pain they cause taxpayers.
They want what they’ve been promised, no matter how unrealistic, and they’ll happily beggar the people they purport to serve in order to get it.
As I understand it, Illinois public pensions are protected by the state’s constitution. The state or city cannot unilaterally lower pension payouts. On top of that, many cities have not paid into the pension fund as they should have. Only solution is to raise taxes and lower services. Oh, the state constitution could be modified but do you think democrat politicians are going to do that? So the taxpayers are well and truly stuck.
And we knew that there was not in the nineteen sixties.
Like Social Security, public pensions are in most cases a ponzi scheme.
During my youth the Tulsa Tribune and The Tulsa World debated the matter continually.
You can’t break the already existing contracts, because if you did, no one would ever believe you again about the new ones. Aside from the fact that it is illegal.
We have an MTA crisis in New York, with huge numbers of people getting to work late too often, while the pensioners are allowed to keep getting their huge pensions based on a lot of overtime. It’s a vicious circle.
Twice in the last few weeks it has taken me two and a half hours to get home on the buses. At least with the buses you are not stuck underground.
Makes sense, till they have to cut pensions to fund services.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.) SECTION 5. PENSION AND RETIREMENT RIGHTS Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired. Illinois Constitution - Article XIII - ilga.gov www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/con13.htm
Same here in Crook County. Actually moved to the other side of the county line from Will because the taxes there were so bad!! At least in downsizing I cut my tax bill by 50%. I'd sure hate to be the people who bought my old home in Homer Glen right about now. Taxes went up over $11k/yr after the sale. Ouch.
I never have. Maybe that's why I'm a multimillionaire who retired at age 53.
I worked my way through 13 years of college--stretched an inheritance of $2,000 to cover it all and pay for 4 years of college for my wife. We slept on a box spring resting on concrete blocks--ate on a card table--cooked on a hotplate--couldn't afford a magazine to say nothing of a movie. I had my first job at age 14 selling shoes--worked construction--did whatever I had to do within the bounds of honesty, honor, and the law.
(BTW--I also established a college scholarship to educate those who could not afford college. I have no idea how many people I educated, though I do have a few thank-you notes from some.)
Democrats and other fools who live beyond their means and encourage others to do so, do a serious disservice to America and the American People. Their lack of concern about this speaks volumes about their basic immorality.
Even more interesting is how many of these pensioners have abandoned Illinois to move where there ARE governmental services.
Too bad. The workers did the time. City needs to keep the promises. This will change once the baby boomers are dead. Nobody has pensions like the baby boomers anymore. This generation had it made in the shade.
East St. Louis city the mid west branch of Los Angeles.
“Swirling around and down here in DuPage county.”
Yep. Almost $7,000.00 a year on a 1,200 square foot cracker box.
Insanity.
L
The Illinois law forbidding municipalities from bankruptcy filings is going to be tested in the Federal courts and tossed out. No State can forbid access to the Courts.
Then it’s Katy bar the door.
L
The municipalities can disincorporate and dissolve. Then there is no one on the debtor side of the contract.