Fat Man To Be Probed

While most states' budgets have recovered and are now in the black NJ, Ks, and WI are all struggling to fund basic services and obligations in their states. Massive tax cuts have not resulted in more revenue - which was and continues to be their sales pitch to voters.

When NJ's pensions default 20 years from now you can be sure Boilerman will blame unions instead of the governor that defunded their accounts

That's why our public servants should be given 401K or 457 type retirement savings plans where the money is actually in their personal investment account. Defined benefit pension plans are pretty much a perk of the last century except for the privileged few union members or government overlords.

******quote***
State and local pension plans are currently underfunded by $4.7 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion just last year.
Worse, just 36% of what is owed is now funded — meaning taxpayers at the state level will be asked to either pony up the taxes to pay for it or cut benefits sharply. All told, State Budget Solutions notes, the liability across the U.S. is over $15,000 a person.
But not all states are equal: Three big, heavily unionized, mostly Democratic states account for 30%, or $1.4 trillion, of the pension underfunding — California, Illinois and New York. Because of chronic mismanagement and the power of public sector unions in these and other states, millions of citizens face a grave financial risk they might not even know about.
***endquote***
Ref: Investors Businerss Daily 11/19/14

Hmm, . . . politicians make promises they cannot keep for votes. Whoa! Why has poor old DonDiego not been informed of this earlier?

Blame the Fat Man.

As ususal pj misspeaks. Wisconsin is operating at a surplus. The NJ state Assembly and senate are democratic & most of the previoius governors were democrats. The NJ pension problems were a product of the democrats although Christie didn't help the situation

I can back up my statement, Hoops. That comes with being informed and knowing how to use the internet.
Maybe its time for you to learn too.
Bloomberg: Wisconsin faces 250 million deficit...Walker skips debt payments
"Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, facing a $283 million deficit that needs to be closed by the end of June, will skip more than $100 million in debt payments to balance the books thrown into disarray by his tax cuts"

I fully agree. But you can also solve the problem by legislatively making pension funding mandatory .... and off limits to be borrowed from for other spending. Same goes for Social Security. I believe Al Gore famously referred to it as a "Lock Box".

Boiler believes that it "should be" enforced by law that private and public pensions remain fully funded.

When Walker's proposed $300 million in spending cuts happen, Wisconsin will be running a small surplus. PERFECT!

"I fully agree. But you can also solve the problem by legislatively making pension funding mandatory .... and off limits to be borrowed from for other spending. Same goes for Social Security. I believe Al Gore famously referred to it as a "Lock Box". "

The fastest growing category in any govt budget is pension and the related medical costs. However within 20 years almost all tax revenue in the US will go to pension, retrement medical, social security, medicare and bond payments, leaving no money for current services. The only solution is to reduce the money owed.

For the record my wife works in a NY school district and our retirement plan assumes that she will only get 75% of her pension

In 2014 Wisconsin operated at a surplus.