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It's worth asking what drove the states to cut aid. Some states have certainly had lower tax revenues than expected. But some states (probably) felt safe moving
by squozzer 10y ago
It's worth asking what drove the states to cut aid. Some states have certainly had lower tax revenues than expected. But some states (probably) felt safe moving the funding problem onto loans and/or sources such as lottery proceeds.
- brianwawok 10y agoIllinois it's been a pension time bomb building for 30 years. "Luxuries" like higher education are way down the line from legally mandated payments to retires teachers and policemen
- douche 10y agoIs Illinois one of the states that's made a habit of raiding their pension programs over the decades, promising to pay back in later[1], and now later has come? [1] (although they never mention the interest that would have accrued if the principal hadn't been stolen...)
- rm_-rf_slash 10y agoIt's more like Illinois pensions are second to the Ten Commandments in terms of universal truths that must not be questioned under any circumstances. It's one thing to make a promise and intend to keep it. It's another thing to stick to the promise until it's beyond the realm of possibility to fix it, and a lot of people end up getting hurt.
- brianwawok 10y agoI do not know it super deep, but I feel like it was more a gradual thing. "Well the models predict we need to pay 5 billion into it this year, but the law says we only need to pay in 2 billion, so we will just pay in the 2 billion and deal with the shortfall later" And then repeat that 20 times. I don't THINK it was ever raided per say.
- hackuser 10y agoCertainly part of it is the ideological belief in reducing the size of government, and one party's dogmatic adherence to never increasing any tax, only reducing them. We get what we pay for.