Illinois' pension nightmare

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Illinois' next governor must grapple with a problem 30 years in the making: keeping retirement promises to more than 660,000 active and retired teachers and state workers.

Years of scrimping on pension contributions coupled with benefit increases have turned the state into a poster child for a growing national problem.

Illinois, with an estimated $45.8 billion pension shortfall, has among the worst funding records in the country. From Connecticut to Oklahoma, pension obligations are threatening to overwhelm budgets, pinching states' ability to pay for pressing priorities such as education, transportation and health care.

Staying on track with a long-term plan to fix Illinois' pension problem will require the kind of tough choices that politicians have avoided for years.

Before the next governor's term ends in 2010, the required minimum annual contribution will have more than doubled from the current fiscal year to nearly $4 billion. That's about equal to the current year's projected outlay for state aid for elementary and secondary schools.

Illinois teachers have a different agenda than Illinois taxpayers:more government spending.We must give the Tribune credit for putting this on the front page.We know of some Illinois teachers who retire at 47 years old.Not bad for someone who doesn't have to pay Social Security taxes.So powerful are these government workers, that in the Illinois State Constitution there's a provision that says their pensions can't be cut.