You are right about nit bankrupting the system. I had a co-worker that spent an entire calendar year working a double shift every day and on his days off too, he remodeled his entire house in that year and made close to $200,000 with all the OT.
Anytime I see a state with budgetary problems, the culprit is always the pension crisis. The states started giving away the store back when actuarial tables showed that the typical employee would live for only 10 years after retirement. With the continued flight of high earners out of state, it is only a matter of time before the goose is effectively sterilized and unable to lay golden eggs for state and local employees.
As a taxpayer in the most overtaxed locality in America, THIS is what makes me angrier. We had welfare reform which was a success here in NYC, we know need pension and benefit reform, which will be an even tougher fight, as the public employee unions have a stranglehold on both major parties, and have total control over the largest third party (Working Families).