private unions V//S publice you say?

Illinois Pension Ruling Sets Stage for Riots…Everywhere
By Rick Ackerman May 11, 2015
What can a state government do if it owes its retired workers vastly more in pension benefits than it will ever be able to repay? The answer, as far as the Illinois Supreme Court is concerned, is that the state will simply have to squeeze blood from a stone when the inevitable fiscal crisis hits. And it surely will, since the gap between tax revenues and pension obligations is conservatively estimated at $111 billion. Illinois doesn’t have that kind of money lying around, and probably never will. So what then? My expectation is that the court’s decision last week invalidating cost savings implemented in 2013 will eventually lead to rioting in the streets and a civil war that pits taxpayers against public-employee unions.
From a political standpoint, the irresistible force and the immovable object have been placed on a collision course. The public-employee unions won’t budge, especially now that the state’s highest court is on their side, rejecting even modest budgetary measures that might have averted bankruptcy. The justices wouldn’t even countenance scaling back a COLA that has been compounding at 3% since 1989. For its part, at some point in the not-too-distant future, the state treasurer will be able claim, with complete honesty, that the money simply isn’t there. The predictable “compromise” will be a court order effectively requiring Illinois to raise taxes until there is enough money to support the retirees more or less forever. Well before then, however, taxpayers will begin to flee Illinois with the urgency of North African refugees fleeing ISIS. Even now, one out of every four dollars that Illinois workers pay in taxes goes toward pension benefits for the state’s retirees.
Can you see where this is heading? Trouble is, there are probably at least two dozen other states whose pension assumptions are nearly as shaky as those of Illinois. Indeed, when the Great Pension Bust that is surely coming starts to unfold in California and New York, it will make the fiscal problems of Illinois look like a hill of beans. To put things in perspective, consider the budget woes of Flint, Michigan. To remedy a recurring annual deficit of about $20 million (and growing), the city has slashed services and amenities almost to nothing.  Even so, the long-term structural budget problem – chiefly the shortfall between revenues and pension obligations – reportedly exceeds $500 million.

http://www.rickackerman.com/2015/05/illinois-pension-ruling-sets-stage-for-rioting-everywhere/

seems unions are the problem no matter WHAT the stripes!

Makes my stomach turn, that public offices spend money like there are no conditions to it, They over spend plain and simple, and just like when you and I over spend we have to tighten it up for a while and get it under control, They could have laid people off, lowered pay plans, removed jobs from the public payroll, but instead they kept spending like it was 2 dollar sale at Wal-Mart... This should have have been addressed a long time ago, its simple math at some point and someone has to be responsible, more should be accountable, Those that were involved in the lack of control on this should all have their retirements revoked first, You cant run a state financially like Enron and MCI ran themselves.  I really am gonna be sick when they start with the we didn't see it coming nonsense... sounds like my kids kicking a soccer ball in the house breaking a lamp and thinking I am sorry is good enough. I am sorry doesn't cut it this time.

Yep, there's your public difference. Private or multi company pension plans hasn't a dank thing to do with the state or the public. Private is an mlm that supports its own and we are in trouble too. In 2016 we will take at least a third cut in something we built and paid for cause of mis management along with a dying workforce. You don't see public management taking cuts, never have. Our cuts will eventually mean no pension in the next 20 years. Thank God for the dinar and there is a major difference, like night and day. Corporate America tho on the other hand is loving the pension law changes Obama and congress snuke in. Bad times will come, guess it was all a joke from the get go in this man made world...lol

well thers the issue in a nut shell you want them to make cuts last i checked you work for them not other way round! want in one hand and .. well you get the idea.. or wait im wrong you and most .. no scratch dat ALL unions dont get it you work for them ! if ya dont like it try working like the REST of the U.S break da union up get real job! and real wagers and for god sakes pay your OWN retirement ! try dat then we will talk!

Interesting Duck.  Here in Ontario all unionized health care employees pay into their own pension plan, and the employer matches their contribution.  The Unions involved are responsible for the pension plan, run by a Board from each Union that puts into the plan.  We hire investment gurus to invest our money, and every year we are able to keep pace with COLA increases, and at times increase COLA expenses twice a year.  Several times the Provincial government has attempted to take over our pension plan, and we have refused, which was supported by a Arbitrator.  In the end, we own our pension plan and are accountable for it.  As for getting a real job and working for our money, I'm a nurse, I work 12 hour shifts, weekends, shift work and all major holidays.  I don't get to dress in a nice suit, I wear scrubs as I get blood, spit, urine and feces as well as other bodily fluids.  I am the one that is there when you and your family members need me the most, and at times I am the one that is there with your family member as they take their last breath and I tell them that everything is going to be alright...and yes....I am unionized, but that does not define my profession, nor my work ethic.

duck2000 wrote:well thers the issue in a nut shell you want them to make cuts last i checked you work for them not other way round! want in one hand and .. well you get the idea.. or wait im wrong you and most .. no scratch dat ALL unions dont get it you work for them ! if ya dont like it try working like the REST of the U.S break da union up get real job! and real wagers and for god sakes pay your OWN retirement ! try dat then we will talk!

I'm not talking, I'm responding..lol

Real wages...lol if not for private unions setting the standard it would be even less and more hour. I agree that today's union has taking a bad rap from bad leaders past and present but still doesn't change my work ethic, she does and time spent making the company what it is today. With out me (workers), companies are non exsistance. A contract is agreed between the union workers and the company, it is a fight every contract time but, in order to continue the company and the union knows the out come of agreements between the two before day one ever starts. The problem today is mis information, greed, and crooks and I'll admit on both sides. The under the table stuff has killed it. Still yet, with out standards there is no real wages I promise you that. Be careful what you wish for. As far As retirement taking care of your own, I totally support that.