So Governor Paterson has announced that local governments in the portion of the state outside New York City will be able to put off paying into the state pension funds the amount required to keep them solvent. They will not have to pay more 9.5% for most workers and 17.5% for police and fire workers — a small fraction of what New York City is paying right now! The money would be borrowed from the pension funds themselves. And what would happen if future residents of those localities are unwilling or unable to pay the money back, a near certainty? I suppose the state — including residents of New York City — would have to do so instead. With the state once again offering nothing to New York City.
Another generational theft by a member of Generation Greed, sure to be approved by all the other members of Generation Greed in the legislature. They just keep running up those guaranteed, “contractual” benefits for themselves, and deferring the costs, with no limit. As I said in my previous post, evolutionary change won’t do. Only bankruptcy — or a reduction in the value of past debts and pensions via massive inflation — can help this state now.