Posted on 04/03/2018 7:40:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As many people know, Illinois is a fiscal mess and a national leader in out-migration. To turn Illinois around, how about our elected officials Take the Pledge this November? Will our elected officials endorse these eight suggestions? Does any of these suggestions apply to your state?
1. Illinois is sinking in pension debt. Moving to a 401(K)/403(b) defined contribution plan for all new State of Illinois hires with the ability to put all newly hired public-sector (municipal, school, etc.) employees on a defined contribution plan as well will finally put a cap on unfunded pension liabilities and give certainty to businesses and job-seekers about the future of Illinois. Illinois recently moved to Tier 3 pensions, hybrid defined benefit-defined contribution plans that include a defined benefit component. This hinders the ability of public-sector employees to seek private-sector employment without compromising their defined benefit plan.
According to Reuters (February 2018), Illinois has an unfunded public pension liability of $129 billion. This is up from $111 billion in 2016. Moving new public-sector hires to a defined contribution plan caps unfunded pension liability. In addition, the funds in the public-sector employee's account belong to him allowing him to move freely between public- and private-sector employment without losing his 35% funded Illinois pension. No more public-sector job lock, no more collecting multiple pensions, no more unfunded pension liability a win for all.
2. Freeze public-sector hiring until we have shrunk the state workforce by 11.5% via attrition. Assuming a 4% turnover, this should take three years. The average cost per state employee (wages, benefits) is $97,545. Shrinking the payroll by 11.5% saves taxpayers at least $839 million in payroll cost, allowing Illinois to start working down the size of the unfunded pension liability.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The only way you would get them passed is to line up the Illinois legislature and governor in front of a machine gun and then hold a vote.
The only solution is to break off Chicago/Crook County into it’s own state.
“From what I understand Mike Madigan controls everything.”
And his lovely and charming daughter Lisa has been the Attorney General for years. Not one political corruption case that I know of.
Having been born and had a wonderful childhood in IL, I saw the problems gaining steam in the late 70s and left for good. I can’t think of anything that would pull me back other than to continue the short visits with family and old friends.
So where did you move to, and is it any better there?
Just search for Illinois public sector pension scandals and you’ll find lots of stories. Some worse than the one I told.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.