When I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago in the 1960s and ’70s, Illinois was still a financial and industrial powerhouse.
Source: Anatomy of a Failed Liberal State – Stephen Moore
I guess I’ll have to be the one that says what others are afraid to say.
If you were a public sector employee, expect to see pennies on the dollar of your pension. If you are a public sector employee, expect to see your benefits crumble.
It sucks. I know too many who really worked their butts off as hard as anyone who are going to get hosed when this happens. They have been betrayed by Union establishment and Chicago and Springfield politicians. If you are in Southern Illinois, take what happened to Granite City Steel pensions and benefits as an example. You NEED to start planning now.
They won’t be able tax their way out of this. Taxpayers – corporate and individual – are fleeing the State in droves. If I see an option to jump ship to Missouri, I’m *gone*. You can’t tax money that isn’t there.
There won’t be a bailout from the Federal government. This political climate won’t allow it. At a national level, people will not see the local teacher who helped you educate your kids. People will see government employees trying to milk taxpayers one more time. When I said “will not,” that is exactly what I mean. They will *refuse* to see it any other way. Down here in Southern Illinois you can already here people starting to say, “You got what you voted for so live with it.”
It really doesn’t matter if a judge declares that the State must pay. It can’t pay what it doesn’t have. If the State cuts other obligations to temporarily pay those benefits, it will only accelerate the collapse as even more people leave. You cannot simply confiscate the bank accounts of people who leave or keep them in state at gunpoint and at this point, that’s what it’s going to take to keep that money here.
So if you are public sector in Illinois, you are facing a truly crappy choice. Pennies on the dollar or nothing? If you’re angry about it – and you should be – don’t blame Rauner. Don’t blame those of us downstate. Blame your leaders and your government. And if you voted for those people, take a long hard look in a mirror.