According to a website called Wire Points, most Illinois’ cities and towns should get ready for tougher times ahead due to the public state funds getting less funding than what was anticipated.

These stories are becoming more rampant in different cities and counties, and one of the reasons why this is happening is the fact that pension promises are being made in these places, but they are also being broken just as much. This bears to question the possible actions that could and should be taken.

The solution?

“Bite the bullet” is the answer being given by labor unions as well as the politicians who are responsible for the pension funds. They expect that the deal made with the workers should be compensated through high taxes and fewer services.

Another solution is for the federal government to deal with insolvent pensions. However, this leads to the question of whether the states that have solved their pension troubles would be willing to help their counterparts who haven’t.

It’s still not enough. The best solution would be to have employees contribute specified amounts into their accounts which will mean that employers would be responsible for the pensions thereby lessening the burden on the taxpayers.

However, it’s unlikely that both the state government and local ones would accept that arrangement. This is because in most of these dates the employee unions control what happens including negotiating bad pension agreements and reducing the workforce.
The solution to this seems to be the removal of all trade unions especially in states with the most problems. Workers in the public sector will, therefore, depend on taxpayers instead of the politicians and union representatives who only seem to benefit from the pensions meant for the workers.

It has been discovered that when discussions regarding the pension systems take place, the politicians tend to “avoid labor unrest” while the union officials ask for “the moon” which they usually get because they are left with little bargaining power. This type of cow tailing shows that the workers are never represented in such meetings because no one is present to look after their interests genuinely.

Politicians aren’t blameless either. They continue to watch as the problem grows more prominent until it gets out of control.

Voters too are to be blamed. They keep accepting the same false promises the politicians give and end up paying through taxes only to discover that the pension funds are bankrupt in these states.
The financial crisis that is impending should be dealt with soon. Otherwise, the problem will have a ripple effect in many cities within these states and cause division among the people.