Our national debt numbers are so grim that they result in collective numbness. Pile on unfunded federal entitlements, college debt that exceeds a trillion and one can understand why one would rather view current pics of the surviving members of The Manson Family. The economic forecast is so bleak as to make one ask, "What could be worse?"
Statistics usually come in 2 sizes: Bad and Worse. As bad as our national numbers might be, they are much worse in Illinois:
Unfunded state and local government retirement debt is more than $260 billion and rising.
Unfunded pension liabilities for the nation’s highest-paid government workers (overtime starts at 37.5 hours) are $130 billion and are projected to increase for at least through the next decade.
Nearly 25 percent of the state’s general funds go to retirees (many living in Texas and Florida).
Vendors are owed $9.5 billion.
Every five minutes the population — down 1.22 million in 16 years — declines as another person, and an average of $30,000 more in taxable income, flees the nation’s highest combined state and local taxes.
Those leaving are earning $19,600 more than those moving in.
The work force has shrunk by 97,000 this year.
There has not been an honestly balanced budget — a constitutional requirement — since 2001.
The latest tax increase, forced by the legislature to end a two-year budget impasse, will raise more than $4 billion, but another $1.7 billion deficit has already appeared.
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There has not been a balanced budget despite a constitutional mandate. A lesson for all of us, I think.
The stats come from an interesting article from "Los Angeles Daily News" website about the Illinois reformers battling The Blue Mafia.
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