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By Bill Zettler Help the needy or help the greedy? Illinois Dept. of Human Services (DHS) recently announced some planned cuts: DHS to cut $150 million, expected to affect 178,000 children and adults Dept….
Read MoreBy Bill Zettler If the pension rules in effect when the Constitutional guarantee was made were in effect now there would be no deficit. It is interesting to note that with all of the…
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To Avoid Financial Armageddon Salaries, Pensions and Benefits Must Come Down. The city of Des Plaines has some very expensive part-time employees working at CCSD District 62 including a second grade teacher who makes…
Read MoreBy Bill Zettler (Originally posted 11-24-09.) The Pension Gravy Train Needs to End Before the State Is Bankrupted. The unfunded taxpayer pension liability in Illinois now approaches $80 billion. The state pension system continues…
Read More(Originally posted 2-5-2010.) Tea parties are turning into “Pension Parties.” Evidence continues to pile up that out-of-control Illinois public pensions are on the minds of voters in Illinois. Last February’s primary added to that evidence…
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If you listen to union representatives and their lackeys in the media you will hear this constant refrain: Illinois pension problems are the direct result of the taxpayers not paying their fair share over…
Read MoreIllinois politicians won’t find the courage needed to honestly address the government employee pension mess they helped create until they admit that they are mostly clueless about how to address the larger political problem.
Read MoreBalancing a budget in today’s America is evidently too much to ask of our political parties because it causes much screaming from the old media and taxeating interest groups. Likewise, the notion of setting up a pension plan that actually makes fiscal sense is evidently also beyond the capacity of those we elect.
Read MoreEarly on in the book Greenhut makes a simple point: “Government work should not be honored above other forms of work.” He asks, “do we really want a society where there are such large disparities in retirement living between government workers and the people who pay their salaries?”
Read MoreSteven Greenhut’s book should be read by anyone trying to figure out how in the world the federal, state, and local governments have made such a mess. The title and subtitle are: “Plunder! How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives, and Bankrupting The Nation.”
Read MoreGold-plated Retirement Benefits Should Be Paid for by Beneficiaries Not Taxpayers. Governor Quinn recently suggested defusing the unfunded state employee retirement debt time bomb by raising the employee’s contribution by 2%. That’s like trying…
Read MoreEditor’s note: Bill Zettler wrote the following in late 2005, and his work was picked up by both the Heartland Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis. Four and a half years later the…
Read MoreThe Chicago Tribune’s April 18th editorial “Don’t run from a fight” is one of those fine and nice missives that falls short of the target.
Read MoreQuinn: Pension Reform Will Save $400 Million in 2011. Zettler: Pension Deficit Will Increase More than $50 Billion by 2014. Governor Pat Quinn signed the pension reform bill and immediately claimed the new law…
Read MoreBy Bill Zettler Just another Public “Servant” Sacrificing Himself for the Common Good. Jim Edgar took time yesterday to step down from on high as “Distinguished Fellow” at U of I long enough to…
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