As cities and states start to realize that there is no way they can continue to afford to pay their obligations to the government workers who have retired and believe they have pensions and free medical care for life because they put in their 20 years, some are starting to come forward and admit it.
After Detroit filed for bankruptcy, Chicago is promising a fight with its employees' union on pensions. Last week's Times had a great article giving lots of details. The bottom line is that Chicago changed the rules under which it operates to allow it to change public pension funds to stave off bankruptcy.
New Jersey has been neglecting to pay its share to the pension funds for years and is the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand. When will it and other states make the changes that are needed to bring their fiscal houses into order? Or will they continue leaving a bigger mess for the 'next administration' to clean up?
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