“The public employee unions make campaign contributions and in return, the Democrats inflate pensions. It's utterly corrupt," Chicago Republican Party Chairman Chris Cleveland said. | Contributed photo
“The public employee unions make campaign contributions and in return, the Democrats inflate pensions. It's utterly corrupt," Chicago Republican Party Chairman Chris Cleveland said. | Contributed photo
Chicago GOP Chairman Chris Cleveland blames one group for leaving Illinois perpetually in crisis mode when it comes to pension debt.
“We're in this mess because the Democrats in power are owned and operated by the public employee unions,” Cleveland told Chicago City Wire. “The public employee unions make campaign contributions and in return, the Democrats inflate pensions. It's utterly corrupt.”
Not to mention costly, with government watchdog Wirepoints now placing the state’s retirement debts in the neighborhood of $530 billion, averaging a $110,000 price tag for each of the state's 4.9 million households to cover state and local shortfalls.
And the suffering doesn’t end there, with the state now owning the worst credit rating in the country and the nation's second-highest property taxes. That comes as, over the last decade, the state has seen the U.S.'s second largest-population decline.
Of the shortfall, $313 billion is owed to five state-run pension funds, $55 billion to state retiree health insurance and $9 billion to state pension obligation bonds. Another $122 billion is owed to Chicago and Cook counties' pensions and retiree health and $32 billion to other government pensions and retiree health.
Overall, Pew Charitable Trusts reports state pensions are just 39% funded. That's the lowest ratio in the country.
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