You know all about Rhode Island’s pension and other fiscal problems stemming from an out-of-control public sector which made promises which could be kept only under the most rosy of scenarios, in a state almost completely controlled by unions:
- Is Rhode Island Our Future Under Obama?
- High Taxes And Union Pensions Are Killing Rhode Island. Duh!
- In RI, Public Sector Unions Are The State
- RI State Pensions In Even Worse Shape Than Thought
- Central Falls falls
Nonetheless, this Walter Russell Mead article (via Instapundit) is worth the read, also:
Rhode Island turned its pension program into a Ponzi scheme with the same basic technique that is being used in cities and states all over the country to bamboozle workers and taxpayers alike: it projected unreasonable rates of return on the money the state set aside to pay the pensions when the bills came due. When those rates of return failed to materialize (in part due to the financial crisis), the gap between what the state had promised to pay and what it had on hand exploded. Nationally, state and local government face something like $3 trillion in accumulated lies and deceit; tiny Rhode Island has the highest per capita amount of systemic dishonesty on its books — I don’t know if the Ocean State is unusually rich in both knaves and fools or if some other factor is at work.
Update: this must be the day when everyone focuses on Rhode Island. From WaPo/Bloomberg, Rhode Island considers radical moves as pensions put state on brink.
I know what will solve the problem, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) should give another speech lashing out at the Tea Party movement.
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Comments
“Rhode Island leads the way (into the fiscal abyss).”
Leading from behind.
Back in the day I was the resident LEO for an area of CA larger than the state of Rhode Island. Now retired, can’t help thinking I was a better bargain for that area than what RI&pp has now.
One after another the welfare-states will suffer from the weight of their own debt. And who will they call on? You guessed it.
There can only a maximum number of states who get 2 & 3 Federal dollars for each Federal dollar they collect, which leaves the other states, the ones which are subsidizing the others, well…. they will be getting only dimes back for each dollar sent.
And when the “gimme-mores” can’t squeeze anymore from the “we watch our budget”… that’s when this whole argument is going to go to a whole different level.
DocWahala – “don’t spend more than you earn” – the true Golden Rule to live by.
Rhode Island is doing poorly, but wait until California starts to fold. We’re talking a financial failure to remember.
If California starts to fold, the legislature will make a new law confiscating all the millions the wealthy plus Hollywood stars and such have accumulated. Well, that makes as much sense as the other laws they have passed. Just think of the screaming that would cause. It might even change their political affiliation. Naw. Too bad Rhode Island doesn’t have this kind of wealth.
This far-fetched idea is in the works as we speak. Just a matter of time. The libs have this idea all the wealth in this country belongs to them. And like all true believers, these wealthy supporters think they will be spared. Unfortunately for them, they will be the first to go. History shows this is true.