Chicago, IL—Every state that has been hijacked by Socialists politicians over the last four decades has extorted from the taxpayers all they could. Understandably taxpayers have fled these places and there is no more to plunder.
Unions were strong in these states as they pushed hard on behalf of their employees to get fair working conditions and a livable salary with benefits. Of course these same unions have vigorously sought to destroy immigration laws that prevented the export of crime, poverty and narcotics into America across our Southern border. As a predictable result, our schools and medical facilities have been destroyed.
The problem is Socialists politicians have opened the treasury to illegal aliens, welfare cheats, the narcotics dependant and serial thieves. That is when these Socialists were not giving fraudulent vendor contracts to their pals.
All of the Socialist controlled jurisdictions are now bankrupt. They are demanding that the frugal states bail them out despite their chronic corruption. This should never happen. These same Socialists politicians have been allowed to squander the pension contributions of their employees. The results were predictable, insolvent retirement programs.
The price for bringing the foxes to the taxpayer henhouses is that there are no hens left. These jurisdictions have only one answer to their problem. It’s the same answer that any American has that lived beyond their means for too long, filing bankruptcy. Government is not somehow immune from the penalties of overspending.
It is a foregone conclusion that the promise of a retirement pension will turn into an empty promise for so many state and local government employees.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy will allow the jurisdictions to halt payments, reorganize and make payments in a rate lower than promised. If that does not cure the problem which I suspect it won’t the next step is to convert to a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Chapter 7 would give the pensioners paltry lump sums of whatever is left.
This was more about theft of government funds by elected politicians and the bureaucrats they appointed. These criminals need to be held accountable.
The hard cold facts are that those who are dependent on the pensions they earned to survive wont. There is no fix for this. Socialist politicians spread poverty wherever they go. Why should any, city, county or state be different?
The victimized employees need to direct their rage where it belongs, on the criminal Socialist politicians their unions supported.
Comments
Get the message, cheese-heads: "The money is gone. There is no bail-out."
(This is where "family" comes into play and, yes, I'm aware that many won't have that to fall back onto. But when the money is gone, then the money is gone. It ain't there. Deal with it.)
February 20, 2011 2:16 AM
sink a well, dumbass.