by Tom Acre » Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:27 pm
With all due respect at99sy, you need to take a closer look at this issue. Are entitlements a big part of the problem? Yes. Are state employee salaries, pensions and health benefits a big part of the problem? The answer to that would also be a big YES. As an example I submit this sober analysis from a state near you, Connecticut.
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/8679/stat ... 2-year-low
"State's unfunded pension liability hits 22-year high
Keith M. Phaneuf
December 10, 2010
The state's pension fund now holds less than 45 percent of the funds its needs to meet obligations to workers, plunging below the halfway mark for the first time in more than two decades, according to the latest, biennial report from fund analysts.
The actuarial valuation prepared by Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting of Kennesaw, Ga., also found that while fund investment earnings rebounded over the last year, they could not overcome significant losses from 2009, coupled with various pension-weakening gimmicks ordered to prop up the state budget...
For nearly four decades, state government saved nothing, and therefore gained no investment earnings, to cover pension costs...
"This is another reminder of just how deep a hole our state is in," Malloy said Thursday. "The news is grim, the decisions are tough and the sacrifices will be many in order to get Connecticut's fiscal house in order. But let me be clear: we will get there."
And this is in light of the "gimmicks" the state has used AND the elastic air-filled Potemkin Villages that are our fluffy stock markets. Other much larger states are even in worse shape, e.g. California, Illinois, New York, etc.
With all due respect at99sy, you need to take a closer look at this issue. Are entitlements a big part of the problem? Yes. Are state employee salaries, pensions and health benefits a big part of the problem? The answer to that would also be a big YES. As an example I submit this sober analysis from a state near you, Connecticut. [url]http://www.ctmirror.org/story/8679/state-pension-debt-hits-22-year-low[/url]
"State's unfunded pension liability hits 22-year high
Keith M. Phaneuf
December 10, 2010
The state's pension fund now holds less than 45 percent of the funds its needs to meet obligations to workers, plunging below the halfway mark for the first time in more than two decades, according to the latest, biennial report from fund analysts.
The actuarial valuation prepared by Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting of Kennesaw, Ga., also found that while fund investment earnings rebounded over the last year, they could not overcome significant losses from 2009, coupled with various pension-weakening gimmicks ordered to prop up the state budget...
For nearly four decades, state government saved nothing, and therefore gained no investment earnings, to cover pension costs...
"This is another reminder of just how deep a hole our state is in," Malloy said Thursday. "The news is grim, the decisions are tough and the sacrifices will be many in order to get Connecticut's fiscal house in order. But let me be clear: we will get there."
And this is in light of the "gimmicks" the state has used AND the elastic air-filled Potemkin Villages that are our fluffy stock markets. Other much larger states are even in worse shape, e.g. California, Illinois, New York, etc.