States Made Risky Bets with
Pensions Before Coronavirus.
Now They Want a Bailout.
Washington Free Beacon,
by
Charles Fain Lehman
Original Article
Posted By: MissMolly,
4/23/2020 5:24:17 AM
Staring down the coronavirus's effect on their budgets, states like New Jersey and Illinois are calling on federal leaders to backstop public pensions as part of future coronavirus relief.
Democratic leaders in those states are pushing the federal government for billions in funding to shore up underfunded public pensions. Democrats in Congress have made bailouts for state and local governments a major priority for the next round of coronavirus stimulus, even allowing a major small business loan program to run dry as Republicans refused to package a renewal with more cash for states.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
MOAB 4/23/2020 5:42:02 AM (No. 388405)
No way should the rest of Americans fund these pensions. The Justice Department should look into these states activities and they will find gross criminal activities. If a Democrat is involved you can bet the house they are stealing money from the pension funds. Put them in prison! .
26 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 4/23/2020 5:57:23 AM (No. 388409)
This is one of the reasons that the blue states are dragging their feet to reopen. They think that if they keep waiting to reopen, they will receive money to cover their debt that they created prior to the virus outbreak. Mitch said that the senate will be providing guidance on how these states can file for bankruptcy. Good, don't fund them. Let their bonds crash and burn, lay off the legislators, state workers just like the small businesses. Let them fail.
My bet is that Cuomo's visit with President Trump, he asked for this money. I pray Trump said NO. Shortly after the visit, Mitch came out about the bankruptcy guidance. Thumbs up to you Mitch!!!!!
31 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 4/23/2020 6:27:18 AM (No. 388426)
There are not many “states like New Jersey and Illinois” in the public pension sector. Those two are the worst states and have gotten there by not paying the actuarially-recommended annual employer contributions over many years. Under no circumstances should the feds bail out intentional financial mismanagement.
25 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
chase9365 4/23/2020 6:29:57 AM (No. 388429)
I live in NJ. They are still collecting income taxes, property taxes and sales tax. I am sure I am leaving out a bunch of fees and other forms of state collections. Do not bail them out!
16 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 4/23/2020 6:35:25 AM (No. 388432)
At this point this is non essential. If the states were up to date and investments recover, in a year or so they should be fine. Any monies allocated should only be for immediate concerns related to pandemic caused shortfalls.
States that were behind actuarial needs DEFINITELY should get NO money. Dems are trying to use this crisis to bail out all their Socialist planning failures.
15 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Gruntmedic 4/23/2020 6:35:51 AM (No. 388434)
NJ had one rich guy leave the state and threw their budget into disarray.
6 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
hotcorner 4/23/2020 6:38:05 AM (No. 388435)
The people in this country who work their entire life, pay all of their taxes, save for their own retirement seem to always get screwed by politiciams. Now, I have to pay for some lazy bureaucrats pension (above and beyond what I already do) with additional tax dollars. Most of them are receiving full pay, not working while most suffer through this and don't receive the pittance from the government. Seeds of a new revolution,
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
petrichor 4/23/2020 6:56:18 AM (No. 388448)
There's just no way that the federal government (read American people) should give money to a state with pension problems. Illinois legislatures not only built a delicious pension system, but they changed the state constitution so that nothing can alter that pension system. Illinois voters are good with that so they get what they deserve, which is the highest property taxes in the country.
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
NancyD 4/23/2020 7:04:21 AM (No. 388455)
Oh well, I feel bad for those who will not get their pension, but they vote for the Dems and the Dems screw the taxpayer, but they vote them in anyway.
12 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Muguy 4/23/2020 7:08:10 AM (No. 388457)
George W. Bush had just started his Presidency talking like he was going to be like Ronaldus Magnus and then 9/11 happened and things changed. President Trump has had to not only deal with the corrupt, rigged election the media tried to foist on us, but the GOP/RINO elites trying to stab him in the back at every opportunity.
He spoke of turning the economy around to the point that it would be possible to do many things to start cutting deficit spending and go less and less into debt, repudiating all the wasteful spending by Nobama that doubled the debt and had very little effect on the economy. As a business man who has been bankrupt and come out of it before, he know you CANNOT create money out of thin air--
Now, he is working to lead the country out of this generation's 9/11 and has been made to support BIG GOVERNMENT and BIG SPENDING.... the demonrat socialsts added BILLIONS of PORK in "Corona Virus" for various projects that had NOTHING to do with the virus and the socialsts seek this as an attempt to GO FOR BROKE to add even more unrelated things holding us over a barrel of blackmail.
The "shovel ready" infrastructure jobs were not shovel ready, and most of the money went to pay political patronage off of the TAXPAYERS. Now the STATES have their hands out--
What started with Poppy Bush's "read my lips" failed pledge to "cut the deficit" has shown us that all it really did was to SUBSIDIZE MORE SPENDING of money we don't have. Bankrupting the country so that the socialists take power is now their play, and if we bail out STATES, and spend federal money on things the STATES should be taking care of to the point of economic collapse, plays right into the hands of those who seek to keep draining the life blood out of the country.
Just say NO to this-- Pray that Mr. Trump doesn't spend more money we do not have, just to placate the socialists!!
State projects are NOT federal projects. They already have high taxes in those states, and are like drug addicts desperately looking for another fix......
17 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Daisymay 4/23/2020 7:25:22 AM (No. 388480)
I think it's time to shut off the Money Spigot for everyone. We can't keep handing out Billions and Billions of dollars. It's time to let everyone sink or swim. Businesses have been hurt, and have been handed money to compensate for the shutdown. Every American has been handed $1200! Everyone on unemployment is getting their paycheck Plus $600 every week. I think Trump has done what he can to ease people's pain. Some folks on unemployment are making more money now than when they were working (so they're not in any hurry to go back to work). I think it's time to open America. Hospitals say they need money because they shut down everyone needing surgeries to make room for Virus patients. Well, okay! Start scheduling those surgeries and in no time you will be back in the Red. We all know the huge charges Hospitals make when we are in there for surgery! They do not need Billions of Bailout money! That goes for businesses. Open your doors. We will come! No more Bailouts for anyone. People have to realize that somehow that money has to be paid back to someone. Do we really want to have to rack up more and more debt just to please Chuck and Nancy? I don't think so! As for Illinois and New Jersey needing a Bailout for their underfunded Pensions...HA! Anyone remember when GM took away the Pensions of their workers who were promised they would have them for LIFE? I do! Hubby was one of those employees of 33 years who saw that escape into thin air. We survived and so will those State workers in IL and NJ! They keep voting in the people who are stealing their Pension money, so no sympathy from me!
13 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
MattMusson 4/23/2020 7:41:31 AM (No. 388492)
No. No. No.
Not putting enough money into your Pension Plan is NOT a risky bet.
11 people like this.
Thank you to the first 11 posters or so who did not lose their minds and go off on yet another rant denigrating every single pensioner everywhere. Perhaps the word is finally getting out that some states, very few actually such as Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California, have completely corrupt Democrat Party political machines. These corrupt politicians used their ability to promise lucrative pensions in exchange for lockstep loyalty in supporting all liberal causes and candidates. These few states never fully funded their pension promises, simply waiting for an event such as this to foist their funding liabilities onto all the rest of the states who were fiscally responsible. Don't fall for it.
11 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
MickTurn 4/23/2020 7:50:04 AM (No. 388503)
Pound Sand...you stole the money from taxpayers and gave it to the unions, you are ALL on your own.
Have a Crappy Day!
11 people like this.
yeah - good luck on that one. am having a tough time not seeing how the reps of other states could support proposal.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
chance_232 4/23/2020 7:56:14 AM (No. 388514)
So....fiscally irresponsible states expect no negative consequences for their behavior and expect the fiscally responsible states to be penalized by picking up the tab.
Frankly, I blame the voters. The voters keep electing economic illiterates to manage billions of dollars. Let me ask, eould you turn over your finances to a person that cant balance tgeir own checkbook and eho pays credut card bills with other credit cards? This is exactly what liberal voters do with their votes.
8 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
walcb 4/23/2020 8:09:19 AM (No. 388533)
We downstaters (anyplace in Illinois that is not Cook county) have known we are screwed for decades. If the fed bails us out they are fools.
7 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Clinger 4/23/2020 8:13:15 AM (No. 388538)
Illinois was bankrupt before COVID 19, we just failed to admit it publicly and go through the process. We can't pay our obligations and all attempts to do so, the only way Illinois politicians know by raising taxes, have resulted in lower collections and a mass exodus. If you bail us out you are only prolonging and worsening the inevitable. We don't have the will to change a thing. The faster Illinois hits rock bottom the faster some semblance of sanity can return. Our politicians have lied to us, their predecessors lied to us and their predecessors......The public sector unions lied to us.
And my neighbors think I'm an awful person, racist, omniphobic, misogynistic, etc. because I think spending your money to fix our mistakes is wrong and I think living high on the hog now while committing future generations to a life of servitude is wrong.
10 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Periwinkel 4/23/2020 8:15:32 AM (No. 388539)
Kentucky...Our former governor, Matt Bevin, did his best to fix the problem with the help of Republicans in legislature. He was stopped by a bunch of screaming, foot stomping, selfish, obdurate, mendacious, bull-headed teachers who really had NO understanding of what he was trying to do for them. As General Honoré said, "You can't fix stupid." And remember, the are teaching our children.
Now we are stuck with a limp-d--k baby governor who is in way over his hear of CV-19 and has even less idea of what to do about the state pensions. I hope the Feds say "no.
8 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
seamusm 4/23/2020 8:26:59 AM (No. 388553)
NO! These states have curried favor with municipal/state unions to maintain power at the cost of financial health and the welfare of their other citizens. Bankruptcy exists as a legal remedy - these states should be required to use it.
4 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Krause 4/23/2020 8:42:04 AM (No. 388572)
Democrats should never be in the a position to handle the people's tax money. Keep their hands out of the till.
6 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Right Time 4/23/2020 8:53:15 AM (No. 388589)
New York could have balanced their budget and been able to pay off its absurdly overgenerous public worker pensions with the state revenues that would have been earned from the business taxes and extraction taxes from fracking---except the pigheaded governor continues to prohibit fracking in NY state in order to please his campaign contributors.
And, to make matters worse, New York state pays for the welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and housing costs for illegal aliens without federal assistance.
And now they want the US taxpayer to pay for their profligate ways.
6 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Nimby 4/23/2020 9:04:14 AM (No. 388596)
“ Blue States Made Risky Bets with Pensions Before Coronavirus. Now They Want a Bailout.”.......there, fixed it
3 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
LadyHen 4/23/2020 9:53:23 AM (No. 388666)
Failing underfunded state pensions have been an known issue for well over a decade. They were broken long before the virus! We the people of states who did the responsible thing and safeguarded our state 's pension programs should not be taxed to fix the pension programs of the Democrat irresponsible states who have squandered their tax dollars on protecting illegals.
3 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/23/2020 11:29:57 AM (No. 388800)
NO to loans that will not be repaid or outright bailouts. The writer calls the inflated pensions "risky," I call them corruption, greed and abuse of taxpayers. Illinois is as bad as California when it comes to paying minor level public servants over $200 grand a year for jobs that would earn $50 grand in most other states. Some of those ridiculous numbers are the result of union overreach but most are bribes for faithful support of corrupt democrats.
0 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 4/23/2020 12:25:47 PM (No. 388882)
Nope. Not bailing out idiot leftist states for doing idiot leftist things.
NOT!
0 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
Butch 4/23/2020 12:28:53 PM (No. 388893)
No, just no. I left California in 2013 in large part because the writing has been on the wall for decades, and I refuse to pay for the outrageously inflated pensions to people who were rude to me the DMV, and practically everywhere else in California´s profligate government. I´m a Texas resident now, and Texans aren´t willing to pay for pensions to other states that haven´t managed their finances properly. It´s not as if there aren´t enough experienced financiers in California (think Stanford Business School), Illinois (think the University of Chicago´s Kellogg School of Business), New Jersey (Princeton), and New York (Columbia and Cornell).
No cigar, and if you´ve made your state a "sanctuary state) in brazen defiance of federal immigration laws, then double NO!
3 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
jacksin5 4/23/2020 12:52:41 PM (No. 388938)
Shake down ASCFME for the money.
0 people like this.
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