Unfunded Liabilities at State and Local Levels

For John, BLUF:  Retirement liabilities are dragging down Greece and could drag us down.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mr Jeffrey Carter, in his blog Points and Figures, talks about Government debt, including Government pensions, and talks about solutions.  The post is "Want to Know How to Stop a Centralized Bureaucracy?  Math."

My friend Mark Glennon runs Wirepoints.  He was on a radio show recently talking about public pensions.

Public pensions have bankrupted the state of Illinois, counties, and virtually all municipalities in Illinois.  Bill Gurtin of Gurtin Fixed Income has said he would decline buying the public debt of two places:  Puerto Rico and anywhere in Illinois.

Often, we think of the monolithic corporation as being a danger to freedom in America.  It’s a pretty easy seed to plant with people that have to deal with companies like Comcast and ATT everyday.  But, behind that monolithic corporate giant is an out of control larger monolith.  The government.  The government regulates corporations, but who regulates the government?

It’s easy to say, “the voters”.  But, in states like Illinois every district over every geographic square inch has been gerrymandered to death.  Kingmakers have cut up voters to make sure certain things happen. Tammy Duckworth has decided to run for Senate in Illinois.  Democrats aren’t worried about her House seat-the election won’t be competitive.  A Democrat is virtually guaranteed to replace her.  Last week, there was a primary to replace Aaron Schock in Peoria.  Republicans aren’t too concerned since the district has been drawn to guarantee Republican domination.  In certain parts of the state, there are severe social consequences to going against the local Machine.  In the city of Chicago, it’s tougher to be an out of the closet Republican than it is to be gay!

This post includes an audio segment from our local radio show, The Financial Exchange (WRKO, 680).

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff