Illinois 4 billion in the hole

[Zorkorist]

Tax the Rich! So THEY can pay for shit like this.

-John

 

[Nebor]

Tax the Rich! So THEY can pay for shit like this.

-John

Unacceptable. The rich in Illinois are democrats.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Congrats on the high quality $8 hour jobs.

Try again, sparky -- $12 to $20/hr with benefits. Those aren't shabby jobs for people with HS diplomas. A couple working there being paid at the middle of that range would bring home a combined $32/hr (roughly $64K), which is well above the median household income of $45K in Indiana (2009 numbers).

 

[FallenHero]

This is what happens when you let a city government dictate what happens in the state. A whole bunch of handouts with no way to pay for it. BTW, pensions are only one part of the problem in Illinois. There are so many programs which don't work and so many pet projects on both sides of the isle it disgusts me just thinking about the billions wasted.

 

[piasabird]

Even a Day care has a state run food program in Illinois. Imagine weighing all the portions for meals for day care kids, and then filling out paperwork every year to justify your expenditures, then the state has to hire an inspector to go to each day care facility to manage this giant debacle. This is the kind of stupidity that people are made to go through.

 

[Zargon]

This all has to do with unfunded pensions which these politicians will never get rid off so they raise taxes and nickle and dime people to death.

What needs to happen which will never happen is pensions should be only for Fireman and police.. as those life risk jobs and should be allotted a pension for risking ones life. All the paper pushers, salesman, and bullSh!ters (politicians, school teachers, government workers) should be paying into a 401k plan and that will resolve all state debt in a couple years and more than likely will lower cost of living in Illinois.

Another 2 options which might be more viable:
1. Pensions should be capped @ 100k. It ridicules when these superintendents or liefer politicians retire @ around 50 or so and get 150K+cost of living adjustments in pension money for the rest of there lives.

2. Not allow for Govt workers to double dip (have 2 government jobs at the same time so they collect 2 pensions).

the state workers pension would be fine, if the state gov't would stop stealing $$$ from it like the fed does SS

the teachers pension system could def use a bit of work

my munical workers(IMRF) pension(not only self funded but over funded, 105%) is fine as long as the greedy politicians are kept out of it


this has ALOT more to going on than pensions

 

[JTsyo]

I don't really think that's feasible... and generally the US debt doesn't need to be paid back. While long term structural deficits are certainly a problem that need to be addressed, as our economy grows and inflation occurs the debt will naturally decrease in importance as time goes on.

I don't think the idea of saving surplus tax revenues is one that will ever happen. If we carry a surplus, I guarantee that conservatives will push for tax cuts to eliminate it, or other people will push for more programs. (or most likely, both).

That only makes sense if the deficit each year wasn't growing faster than the economy. The US needs a good decade to just pay off the debt to a reasonable level.

 

[nick1985]

SPEND SPEND SPEND!!!

This state is fucking retarded