Posted on 01/01/2017 11:14:06 AM PST by george76
Illinois state government has left the people of the Prairie State quite the stocking stuffer this holiday season: an $11 billion bill backlog that is expected to hit $14 billion by summer 2017. However, with money from a June stopgap funding agreement set to run out by the new year, nonprofit service providers and students receiving state grants may view it more as a lump of coal.
Funding for service providers hasn’t been a priority for the General Assembly for quite some time. Service providers wait, on average, nearly a year to be paid. Illinois politicians have been delaying payment to service providers since 2002, valuing increases in government-worker salaries and pensions more than compensating those who aid the most vulnerable Illinoisans. Spending on state-employee pension benefits increased 586 percent from 2000 to 2015, yet funding for human services only increased by10 percent during that time.
...
The state’s total pension debt has swelled to $130 billion, up 17 percent since 2015.
...
Illinois’ tax revenues have increased 70% more than inflation over last 3 decades
A lack of revenue is not driving Illinois’ pension problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at illinoispolicy.org ...
Illinois · Population
12.86 million (2015)
Lessee...
divide 11,000,000,000 by
12,860,000
Around $855 per citizen of the Prairie State
A family of four owes...
$3420
Or, doing the same math for the pension debt, a family of 4 is on the hook for $40,625.
Then there are all sorts of local districts in hock too.
Pretty soon, this’ll add up to real money! :-(
Who buys all this debt?
I don’t think there are financial instruments involved, it is just owed to the various state and municipal retirees, with no actuarial hope of it being paid. Which is why the state is going bankrupt.
The Dems do not want to be able to declare bankruptcy. As soon as they CAN, then they will be forced to, and then they will have millions of enraged union retirees.
In 2010, then-Gov. Quinn won four counties. He won Jackson Co., which includes Carbondale.
. . .Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds
estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the
budget.
(b) The General Assembly by law shall make
appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the
State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed
funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available
during that year.
—Illinois Constitution
http://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/con8.htm
2016 President, Illinois without Cook County
49.75% Trump
43.46% Clinton
That’s even with a poor result for Trump in the Chi suburbs
Romney also won in 2012.
Obama won in 2008, Bush won twice, Clinton won twice but only by a hair.
A good guess is that many states will be declared bankrupt and the pensioners will get medicare/medicaid and perhaps an amount equivalent to the highest benefit paid by social security. Currently that amount to just under $2700. Not good news for bureaucrats retiring in their fifties with payments well over that amount. There will be very many angry people in New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut...but that’s not really important.
In California I believe it is by state law that pensions are paid out of the state general fund, so state services and infrastructure will suffer or state taxes will rise.or, calif will help elect another liberal president who will bail it out with federal funds.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.