Start fixing pension problem now
The grossly underfunded Illinois pensions are a man-made calamity and train wreck of greed. No matter what the design, the state appears to have used them as cookie jars to cover the state’s housekeeping expenses, maybe looking good along the way until the next election. Live-in-the-now attitudes and who cares should be replaced with a covenant of conservative stewardship of taxpayer dollars and the privilege to guard and appropriate on behalf of their communities.
Most of the lawmakers look old enough to have grandchildren. What will be their legacy to the generations that follow? To visualize the enormity of what has gone amok in Illinois with a starting price tag of $83 billion, compare that to the federal disaster relief for 50 states, which was quoted as $1.5 billion last week to cover for acts of God in the way of tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and wildfires.
Speaking of grandfathers, it’s akin to the grandfather clock that doesn’t stop ticking; the debt lunges forward at a daily rate ticks up at $12.5 million additional taxpayer dollars added onto Illinois taxpayers’ collective invoice while legislators weave campaigning in between summering. Hello? Please report back to Springfield immediately!
Jan Stickel
Buffalo Grove