On Thursday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the credit rating of Chicago Public Schools. The school district’s credit rating now sits at A2 with a negative outlook, the same rating given to Illinois, which has the lowest rating of all 50 states. According to Moody’s, the downgrade reflects CPS’s weakened financial condition, caused primarily by the facts that:...
The goal of No Pension Bailout is to prevent the federal government from bailing out Illinois or any other states that have mismanaged their funds. We oppose a bailout because not only would it destroy state sovereignty and the concept of fiscal federalism once and for all, it would also transfer trillions of dollars from...
A new report by the Joint Economic Committee, or JEC, provides even more evidence that the federal government should never bail out state pension debt. Here are just a few of their findings.
Last week the Illinois Policy Institute launched "NoPensionBailout.com," a national project aimed at preventing a federal bailout of state pension debt.
All across the country, states are grappling with pension funds that are massively underfunded. Under new accounting rules, Illinois’ unfunded pension debt stands at a whopping $209 billion. And that’s not counting the debt for retiree health insurance, pension bonds or all local retirement debt. Recent calculations have put the total level of states’ unfunded pension...
The Illinois Policy Institute launched
Bailout of state pensions would force taxpayers in prudent states to pay for fiscal irresponsibility of Illinois, California
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), the Senate
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and other conservatives said today that it would be a mistake for the federal government to consider bailing out states that are in danger of defaulting on massive pension liabilities.
A specter is haunting Illinois
Chicago teachers are striking. You may recall that they were demanding a 30 percent raise earlier this year, which would have spiked the average teacher’s salary to nearly six figures. But nobody seems to be talking about what this will do to a pension system already in trouble. Chicago teachers’ pension fund is woefully underfunded. According to new...
So, the Chicago Teachers Union is on strike. You may remember that they were demanding a 30 percent raise earlier this year and that they rejected a package that included a 16 percent raise. The union’s demands would spike the average teacher’s salary to nearly six-figures, and that’s before you tally up the generous benefits they get on...
During Gov. Quinn’s DNC address, he invoked John Adams’ famous line, “facts are stubborn things.” Quinn presented his facts about President Obama’s track record. Quinn presented his facts about Governor Romney’s track record. And Quinn presented his facts about Congressman Ryan’s track record. There was one track record that Quinn failed to mention. His own....