Choosing Sides in Illinois Pension Dispute. Illinois is a good example of a government with a public pension system that has gone astray. But sometimes a promise is a promise.

Barron's reports:

We support the Illinois court’s strict enforcement of the pension-protection clause because it would be a good start on punishment for a generation of indolent citizens.

Illinois is a notoriously crooked state that cannot jail its crooked politicians fast enough. Four of the past seven governors have been sent to prison, for corruption, fraud, racketeering, or bribery. But none of them, and none of the state’s legislators and municipal officials, have been thrown out of office for failing to maintain full funding of pension obligations. They weren’t held to account by prosecutors or by the people.

It’s true that Illinois government pension benefits reflect a century of corrupt bargains between elected officials and the public-employee unions that work to elect and influence them. As recently as 2010, when pension funding already was routinely viewed as in a crisis, the legislature increased benefits, adding a generous cost-of-living escalator.

All sides are to blame, but after 98 years of warnings, the people of Illinois should pay for what they got. The pension system was looted for their parks, highways, and votes. Year after year, the legislature paid less than it should have for the pension benefits it enacted, so that it could do other things with the money that would make the voters happy.

When justice is done in Illinois pensions, the people will start to learn citizenship.

Gulp.