Crain's Chicago Business reports:
Chicago's deepest-pocketed business group is stepping up its effort to force major cutbacks in Illinois employee pensions.
Here's some
information from the new site:
By July, Illinois will be $130,000,000,000 (that’s BILLION!) in debt. This crushing load hampers the state’s ability to fund public schools and universities, health care, and other essential public services. Most of that money is owed to the state’s pension funds and retiree health care plans. And YOUR SHARE of that debt is $25,000 per household.
How did this happen? Basically, Illinois spends $3 for every $2 it takes in. Only in Springfield is this kind of math possible. The state accomplishes this by borrowing or by simply ignoring its unpaid bills. And it has been doing so for years.
This year alone, Illinois will be short more than $14,000,000,000. Things are so bad that Illinois now has one of the worst budget deficits in the nation. This has to stop! Financial disaster is on the horizon. We can no longer ignore the problem.
Illinois must reduce its spending and bring its public pension and retiree health care plans in line with the retirement plans the rest of us have. Go to the What You Can Do page of this Web site to see how you can help.
No word yet from former Illinois State Senator Barack Obama on this one.
