I don’t live there, but I got into an argument with a friend who is retired from there about their retirement system and he got quite upset with me when I told him to get it all now because the state government would loot the pension fund eventually. He adamantly denied that it could happen and talked about the health of CALPERS (?) and how well it had done financially.
Was only a few years ago and here we are.... it was all so predictable. Most Americans fail to understand the financial costs to the nation that we will incur from failing state governments - especially California who wields the most political clout of them all.
The sad truth is that we have some pretty big states that are being run like old Detroit or Baltimore. Same politicians + same policies = same results. They will want a bailout.
The massive government employee obligations of CA and my state of NJ make them toxic to businesses and wealthy individuals; who wants to buy a piece of these huge IOUs by moving here?
While some here insist those workers should be paid their pensions because they were “promised”, I have no problem cutting them to $0; these workers have raped us financially for decades now, and enjoy benefits we (their employers) haven’t seen in decades as well. Hell, here in NJ so many of the workers in our capital live right across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania!
Years ago a fireman friend was insisting that my town needed a paid department, while his own beloved wife and children slept soundly in one of our many towns with unpaid volunteers. If he lost his whole pension I’d be OK with that.
Here's a bucket, start bailing.