In many if not most states, and in the Federal Government, we the taxpayers are very soon going to be victimized by a tsunami of new and raised taxes to pay for over-generous public employee pensions and associated benefits that our political "leaders" have foisted upon us over the past thirty years.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, the state employees and the state "education" employees pension funds are $55 billion underfunded, and that doesn't even include the exorbitant cost of healthcare for the little darlings during the 15 years or so between the time when they "retire" and the time when they can go on Medicare. The school districts in Pennsylvania will be raising taxes (mainly real estate taxes, under the current regime) by as much 50% over the next ten years, and we have a new governor who believes he was given the mandate to SPEND EVEN MORE on education! Un. Fucking. Believable.
Throwing salt in the wound is the egregious practice of allowing government employees to dramatically increase their earnings in their last few years with overtime, then have their pension calculated on the inflated earnings.
Most states, including Pennsylvania, have constitutional provisions that require them to maintain a balanced budget so that, unlike the Feds, these costs must be covered in real time, which means both tax increases and service cuts - although politicians will NEVER do anything that results in any government workers losing their jobs - they depend on those votes to get re-elected.
Unless you are on welfare, this will affect you dramatically. If you are a renter, read the fine print in your lease that allows the landlord to increase your rent when the property taxes increase. If you are a homeowner, you are fucked.
Where is the outrage? Where are the politicians who are even willing to admit that there is a problem? It is a national disgrace. In most states they are not even willing to seriously discuss changing new state hires to a defined contribution system.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, the state employees and the state "education" employees pension funds are $55 billion underfunded, and that doesn't even include the exorbitant cost of healthcare for the little darlings during the 15 years or so between the time when they "retire" and the time when they can go on Medicare. The school districts in Pennsylvania will be raising taxes (mainly real estate taxes, under the current regime) by as much 50% over the next ten years, and we have a new governor who believes he was given the mandate to SPEND EVEN MORE on education! Un. Fucking. Believable.
Throwing salt in the wound is the egregious practice of allowing government employees to dramatically increase their earnings in their last few years with overtime, then have their pension calculated on the inflated earnings.
Most states, including Pennsylvania, have constitutional provisions that require them to maintain a balanced budget so that, unlike the Feds, these costs must be covered in real time, which means both tax increases and service cuts - although politicians will NEVER do anything that results in any government workers losing their jobs - they depend on those votes to get re-elected.
Unless you are on welfare, this will affect you dramatically. If you are a renter, read the fine print in your lease that allows the landlord to increase your rent when the property taxes increase. If you are a homeowner, you are fucked.
Where is the outrage? Where are the politicians who are even willing to admit that there is a problem? It is a national disgrace. In most states they are not even willing to seriously discuss changing new state hires to a defined contribution system.
