State Pension Systems Want Your Retirement Savings To Bail Them Out

There are so many issues — that if conservatives highlighted them effectively in the information war — would move Americans in droves to support conservatives candidates and conservative policies. Here is Chuck DeVore writing about one of those issues at The Federalist:

Several state and local government employee retirement systems around the nation are seriously underfunded. Politicians overpromised retirement benefits to government workers while not collecting enough in employee contributions or taxes, then papered over the shortfall by projecting overly optimistic investment returns akin to an official Ponzi scheme.

But these same irresponsible politicians have figured out a way to bail out their government worker pension systems: forcibly enlist the general public into the underwater systems, taking their money, making them dependent on government, and compelling voters to care about rescuing those retirement systems.

Other states have already passed or are considering similar plans. Unremarkably, they all share one thing in common: massive unfunded pension liabilities:

  • Illinois’ unfunded pension liabilities are $77,822 per household, the second-highest in the nation;
  • California’s unfunded pension liabilities are $77,700 per household, the third-highest in the nation;
  • Connecticut’s unfunded pension liabilities are $72,862 per household, the fourth-highest in the nation;
  • Massachusetts’ unfunded pension liabilities are $60,652 per household, the sixth-highest in the nation;
  • Oregon’s unfunded pension liabilities are $45,840 per household, the tenth-highest in the nation;
  • Maryland’s unfunded pension liabilities are $44,038 per household, the thirteenth-highest in the nation.

Please Bail Out Our Mess

Money in government hands is flexible. Forcing private-sector employees to be part of state retirement systems will open up a flood of cash, delaying retirement system insolvency. Further, making millions of voters part of a state-run retirement system will force them to care about the financial health of those systems, potentially increasing public support for tax increases to boost their weak balance sheets.

Read more: The Federalist

Image credit: Maryna Pleshkun / Shutterstock.