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Message: [QUOTE="Watchdog, post: 3594354, member: 10325"] Hopefully your question at the end was rhetorical and not directed at me, but you raised a couple points I'd like to comment on. As you read my comments, though, recognize that I believe we've been living on too much borrowed money, both federal and state. It's a big reason we enjoy such a high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. Bigger houses, more cars, big TV's, premium seating at UConn games, timeshares, boats, fabulous urinals for Chief, etc. The trouble is it just seems logical that it will end badly at some point and it increasingly looks as if it will happen sooner than later. The big question to me is whether our elected officials will choose to print so much money the currency collapses and all hell breaks loose. If you don't believe it can happen I have a $100 Trillion Zimbabwean note I'd like you to break for me. I have one left. Gave one to my brother-in-law for Christmas a couple years ago. As a "businessman", Lamont could be thinking the wages the state paid the last ten years were all the state could afford to pay and the employees were free to take higher paying jobs elsewhere if they weren't happy with their jobs. Two of my cousins worked in the state's healthcare finance division and, even as supervisors, worked only 6.75 hours per day. And that was considered full time. Where do you find that kind of work day or system in the private sector? You raised the question of pension obligations, and it seems it's only a matter of time before some states declare bankruptcy to revise the pension payouts they're currently obligated to make and I have a good example why. 8 summers as a lifeguard and 30 years as a teacher, plus a sweetheart deal to get higher paid teachers to retire early, got a relative on Long Island to jump at a retirement offer. The retirement pay was based on his last year of work (not 3 or 5 years as is typical in the private sector) and he volunteered for some extra work that year to build his salary. His highest salary before that year was about $60,000, he retired at about $80,000 per year (20 years ago), and with COLA's he's now over $100,000 per year plus health benefits. He's one guy. Imagine how many tens of thousands more there are like him and ask yourself how much longer the workers in NY state can afford to pay the taxes it will take to meet all those obligations. I don't know if NY is underfunded on its pension obligations, but Illinois is underfunded by (drumroll please) $137.3 Billion. Didn't matter to Kofi and probably doesn't matter to the people of Illinois until they don't get checks, but it will matter to the taxpayers in states run more responsibly who just may have to ante up to bail them out. [/QUOTE]

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