Next crisis: Health care for retired public workers

The Sacramento Bee reports:

For decades, California's state and local governments have been promising their workers health insurance in retirement. But those same governments have never set aside money to pay for these benefits or even bothered to tally up how much that promise might cost future taxpayers.

Now somebody is finally doing the math. And it's clear that the cost of commitments already made is going to lead to serious cuts in services, tax increases or both. With government workers retiring earlier and living longer, the cost of their health care is rising, fast. And it cannot be sustained under current conditions.

The leading edge of this crisis - and that overused word actually applies here - is already upon us. The cost of paying for health care for retired state workers has more than tripled in the past decade and is currently approaching $1 billion a year.

It's pretty difficult when California government workers can vote for politicians who want to give them benefits nobody in the private sector gets.Anyone reading this from Moody's or S&P should really begin to question those "shifty" numbers California gives out to get a bond rating.Who's books are more honest: GE or the state of California? We here at Newsalert don't even think it's close.