A warning for NH...
Our friend BDP at AnkleBitingPundits weighs in with another great piece on failing public employee pension funds. This time it's New Jersey:
I know that many of your eyes glaze over when I talk about the coming financial disaster due to the bill coming due for public employee pensions. But the fact is that it’s going to directly affect nearly all of you in the coming years - and not in a good way. So look away at your peril.There is an absolutely jaw-dropping story in today’s New York Times about how the New Jersey teacher’s pension fund is basically bankrupt. Why? Well for one reason because the government was permitted not to donate a single dime to the fund in 2005 when it was already underfunded by billions. And what’s worse - they initially reported having contributed over $550 million to the fund..And you should read the story for no other reason to see just how politicians from both parties brazenly and willfully changed the rules to get their way, even knowing the consequences of their actions. It’s a story of arrogance at its finest.
Why is this meaningful to us here in New Hampshire? Because, as you might recall, our state's pension fund is facing serious shortfalls in six or so years. This New Jersey story could very well become a harbinger of things to come for us. BDP also notes this. Notice that the state faces this problem even with that which many current NH pols secret covet: income taxes.
Of course the real losers here are the taxpayers, because they’re the ones that are going to get stuck paying for this. New Jersey already has the highest property taxes in the country, and has one of the highest income tax burdens, and the only way the politicians are going to get the money is to increase that burden.
Click here to read the entire post. All NH citizens must demand a fix to our failing system NOW. I don't like New Jersey. I like NH. Let's try to keep it that way. Check out more from BDP on this subject here, here, and here.
