Restructure is state’s only hope

Kudos to Ms Nnancy Thorner from Lake Bluff. She is of course right in her assessment of Illinois’ future, but I think the time frame for Illi9nois to respond to the economic crisis has passed.

The issue of pension reform is perhaps the most pressing issue facing Illinois and nothing has been done. The issue was not even raised and the costs keep rising. The feds knew almost 30 years ago that the civil service retirement system was unsustainable. In response, they did away with the CSRS and all new federal employees were required to participate in the FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) which is a combination of Social Security and a voluntary 401-type of program.

However, all present federal employees could elect to stay in the CSRS. Most did (for obvious reasons) and the net plus/minus gain to be realized from the change has not at present affected the savings to the public. It is beginning to today, but it points up the problem facing Illinois today. New people going to work as a teacher or Illinois employee today, would obviously stay in the current system and the costs would roll on and gain in total annual costs.

When you combine that with the fact that Illinois has over 6,900 levels of government and similar bureaucratic layering, there is a disaster in the making. Further, we have a legislature and governor purely incapable of taking on the problem. The only method available to solve the problem is total shredding and reorganization (change from 6,900 to 1,200 levels) of state government.

This would only stabilize costs at the current level. Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to count on the fed to bail us out. They are going to have less money than the state does.

These are dangerous times and we have the wrong people in state government.

Stephen McMahon

Grayslake