Steve Greenhut of the Pacific Research Institute has an alarming piece in the February issue of Reason Magazine that chronicles how California public employees have been exploiting the state’s pension system for years and rigging the political system to increase benefits and limit meaningful oversight. While public employees make out handsomely, taxpayers are left holding an unsustainable wave of pension obligations. The numbers are mind-numbing. Greenhut writes:
In California unfunded pension and health care liabilities for state workers top $100 billion, and the annual pension contribution has shot up from $320 million to $7.3 billion in less than a decade. In New York state, local governments may have to triple their annual pension contributions during the next six years, from $2.6 billion to $8 billion, according to the state controller.
Overly generous public pensions and benefits exact a cost that will fall on everyone for years to come. Unfortunately, this problem isn’t just found in California. Most of the fifty states — including North Carolina — have similar black clouds looming on the horizon. Public servants? Who’s serving whom?
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