Posted on 05/08/2015 7:36:14 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2013 pension overhaul, unraveling an effort by lawmakers to rein in benefits for the consistently underfunded public-sector system. The current pension shortfall is estimated at $111 billion, one of the largest nationally. The high court affirmed a decision in November by a state circuit court that the legislative changes violated pension protections written into the state constitution. The decision is a victory for a consortium of public-sector unions while creating a huge challenge for new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who already faces a yawning budget deficit for the coming fiscal year.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Cute. I don’t think states can declare bankruptcy ... so, Illinois rubes that have jobs and pay taxes, bend over and spread them!!!!!
Government benefits can always go up (after all, they constantly complain that they are underpaid and overworked-—which is good for a laugh for those in the know) but they can NEVER go down.
Nice work (being an Overlord) if you can get it.
Looks like Illinois tips over before Guam does.
Freegards
LEX
Cities can, why no states? Hell, with Obama in charge ... why not a country?
NOW they care about a constitution....
Raumer’s nuclear option is a “government shutdown”, or in other words, a severe curtailment of its functions including layoffs of droves of state workers ... “Hey, sorry, it’s the law.”
Don’t the judges have a conflict of interest, because they, too, are recipients of state pensions?
Maybe the legislature will have to remove pension issues from the perview of the courts?
State Unfunded Pension Liabilities at $4.7 Trillion
November 18, 2014 A new report from State Budget Solutions finds that state-level public pension plans are underfunded by a staggering $4.7 trillion as of 2014. Were one to apportion that unfunded liability out among the country, it would equal more than $15,000 per person. Which states are in the worst shape? According to State Budget Solutions’ Joe Luppino-Esposito, California has a $754 billion unfunded liability — the highest among the 50 states.
In second place is Illinois ($331.6 billion), followed by New York ($307.9 billion) and Texas ($296 billion). However, as large states have larger numbers of public sector employees, simply looking at the total figure can be a misleading way to measure financial distress. Instead, Luppino-Esposito looks at “funding ratio,” which compares assets to liabilities. The lower the funding ratio, the worse off a state is — Illinois, for example, has a funding ratio of just 22 percent, meaning that it has only met one-fifth of its liabilities.
Connecticut (23 percent) and Kentucky (24 percent) are not far behind. Another way to look at pension liabilities is by looking at state pension liability per capita. In that regard, Alaska — with a $40,639 unfunded liability for every resident - is in the worst shape. Behind Alaska is Illinois ($25,740) and Ohio ($25,028). Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada, Wyoming and California round out the top 10. Which state has the best pension funding? Wisconsin. Still, writes Luppino-Esposito, it’s far from perfect, as the state’s funding ratio is just 67 percent.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=25080
Is that you, Hank?
This is totally the state’s fault. They should have been saving for these retirees the day they started working. I don’t feel sorry for the states at all. They have basically spent all the savings they had on junk. Well time to pay the piper. What happened to all that tobacco money all the states received? Spent it. No pity at all for these states. In fact, I hope it HURTS them badly. Next time they will not be so free to spend FREE money and yes tobacco money was free.
native son, king barry will rescue them all with another executive order.
And to think that Social Security is in worse shape than this.
IL is going to need a bigger lockbox.
Better to let the pension train wreck solve itself. It would be even better if IL could print money.
And when businesses fail or struggle in IL because of state labor laws move them to right-to-work border states like Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The unionists and their votes can stay in IL however.
As a resident, taxpayer, and Rauner voter, I wholeheartedly support shutting the Illinois State Legislature down until such time that the $111 billion dollar "debt" owed to public pensioners is settled using the un-paid state legislature salaries.
So glad I only have 819 days left living in this shithole of a state.
Probably true. The entire country needs to stop and take a breather. We need a complete overhaul. The only department doing well is the Post Office and that is because they are forced to pay 75 years ahead to all future retirees. Oh they cry every year but they will be the last ones standing and their retirees will be the only ones with a decent future. These states have destroyed anything of a future after promising these workers who did their time all kinds of things. Sorry but yes civilian pensions have been hurt but they are still getting them. Even Mac Truck retirees are getting pensions.....many of my friends and neighbors in Pennsylvania gets them and Mac Trucks is pretty much gone. States will have to figure it out. The workers are not the problem....they fulfilled whatever the states promised. No pity at all not even an ounce.
And to think that Social Security is in worse shape than this.
That is a crock too. There is no reason why SS should be in bad shape. Congress stole money for one thing. The 118K threshold is embarrassingly low. When 1/2 the country is getting a raise in October because SS is not taken out that is a problem. SS can be fixed without changing a thing. Raise the cap a bit. Of course most would love to raise the age to 70 when they know most won’t even get a penny as they will be dead.
It is totally the fault of the last three governors (two of which went to jail...) for raiding the pension funds and then substituting the annual payments with "IOU's" because the State used the money elsewhere.
Not that I'm a fan of public unions by any stretch, just saying what's happened.
Yeah, Mike Madigan and Cullerton are to blame for alot of this mess too.
Aside from shutting down the state government (which I endorse!) the only other option is for the State Legislature to re-write the State Constitution to get out of this mess.
Chances of that happening: ZERO. State Legislature is still run by powerful democrats aligned with the public unions.
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