CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in The meltdown cometh

Re: The meltdown cometh

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:22:24 -0000

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Weâ€™re paralyzed in Illinois.
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Illinois needs to act like a mature state here. This childlike disfunction is not how a powerful state should act. Fix the problem.
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Oh, but expectations of the People of Illinois are so high right now. It's not just a matter of fixing things, we're expecting a windfall.

Re: The meltdown cometh

A Citizen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:44:28 -0000

- Six Degrees of Separation -
Let's let the acid test be the results of the savings to the State of the Early Retirement Program Fitz "offers" guv !!

Re: The meltdown cometh

Six Degrees of Separation — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:43:49 -0000

Citizen-

Seriously, isn't the door open at your place of employment? I don't think the governor has anyone shackled to their desk if conditions are so bad. I appreciate the hard work state employees do, but an ill-conceived early retirement scheme in the name of "morale" is not in the long term interest of the state and most of its "citizens". If an early retirement scheme is hatched, it should pay for itself. And most successful ones are associated with downsizing and replacing higher paid positions with lower ones. Most state employees who comment here say they are overworked with staff at bare-bones now and further downsizing would be bad.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Six Degrees of Separation — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:34:28 -0000

Ummm...the only positive is it puts a trickle of money in the state's pocket now. The negative is that it creates more debt than the trickle will cover later. I'd say we have seen the results of that kind of thinking lately at the state and national level, and the results are not ideal.

Re: The meltdown cometh

A Citizen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:32:35 -0000

There also would be the side benefit of having a positive impact on employee morale! Getting out from under guv's manner of screwing employees would be "priceless"!

Re: The meltdown cometh

A Citizen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:25:59 -0000

- Six Degrees of Separation -
So the bottom line is that it would be net Positive, however it could be even further improved. A drop in the bucket is still better than a dry bucket - a penny saved . . . !

Re: The meltdown cometh

Six Degrees of Separation — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:19:06 -0000

Walkin and A Citizen...

You are talking about a drop in the bucket. Assuming you could get 5,000 state employees who actually have disposable income to part with, say, $100 a month, we'd infuse the state retirement system with about $5 million a year. Whoop-de-doo. A drop in the bucket to the several $$billions of unfunded liability. And as Oberon states, just signing the people up for the program will instantly create a whole lot more potential undfunded liability on paper, assuming the people who sign up for this "buy and bank" retirement credit program will indeed retire early. The employees do not have enough $$$ to make the system solvent.

The only way this works in the state's financial favor is if you 1.) get rid of lots of large salaries NOW, 2.) replace a minimum of these positions, and the ones you do hire are at entry-level, and promote from within with small raises to cover the positions vacated by the retirees, and 3.) hope like heck that the state's retirement investment boards get a good rate of return on their investments.

Re: The meltdown cometh

walkinmyshoes — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:13:49 -0000

-A Citizen-
Thank you - that did not hurt at all!

Re: The meltdown cometh

A Citizen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:42:43 -0000

- walkinmyshoes -
I agree - I always thought of it as an injection of funding into the system that would be beneficial in the long term. It would also stagger out the early retirements so as to not have a time certain brain drain hit. Further it is also a fairness issue as employees within five years of normal retirement benefit while those further than five years lose out - as does the pension system. Those choosing to participate could "buy" their five years over time by payroll deduction. A good idea that for some reason has not been activated.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Captain America — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:15:44 -0000

I agree that a budgetary Armaggedon is at hand- funding reductions that never should happen under any circumstances are really going to hit the most vulnerable populations and the private not-for-profit agencies that serve them really hard next budget - collaeral damage to in the civil war among th corrupt Democratic triumvirate in Springfield.

Re: The meltdown cometh

walkinmyshoes — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:15:04 -0000

I am not up on the regulations and rules that guide the pension of state workers or early retirement incentives; however, I understand during the Ryan regime a state employee was allowed to BUY time in order to retire early. Would it be feasible to offer the current state employees an option now to buy 5 years into their retirement to use at a later date? Would this help or hinder the current pension funding issues? I'm a novice here so be kind please.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Say WHAT? — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:54:51 -0000

I can confirm that people are getting more desperate. I have never had so many people come in and or call. They are without jobs, heat, electric, water. They are losing their homes. Whatever we do now, we already have folks who are in fetal position. They have already given up, and whats worse is they are waiting for the government to "save them". They have bought into the repeat media coverage that beats them down constantly with how negative things are. The comment I keep hearing is "things are bad out there". Yes, times are bad. I agree with Rich, its gonna get worse.

Meanwhile, back at the cozy capitol, we can't even work together for these people without bickering. SAD!

Re: The meltdown cometh

s. Illinois — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:49:29 -0000

Rich - I think at least a short term banishment is in order for Wordslinger for infecting us all with the Billy Joel earworm.

Re: The meltdown cometh

A Citizen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:03:39 -0000

I had a dream last night that guv was convicted and sent to club fed. And Bill was posting about what a model prisoner he was and how he could serve as an inspiration to all of us!

Re: The meltdown cometh

Pointing fingers — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:00:11 -0000

My vote for the next in line chief scapegoat is Madigan.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Leroy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:55:15 -0000

Remember kids....if the governor is indicted, there will be two positions Illinois will need to fill: that of governor, and that of chief scapegoat.

If Rod is indicted and leaves office, who will we blame all our problems on? Quite the finger pointing industry has sprung up over the last 10 years.

(Unless, of course, you think removing Blago is going to resolve most of Illinois' problems)

Re: The meltdown cometh

John Ghrist — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:46:46 -0000

I blame the present governor for the state's problems. This includes everything from unemployment to its budget woes. When I worked at IDOT, there was so much waste going on there. There was never any supplies, just a bunch of well-paid new cronies running around who knew nothing about how things were supposed to operate.
The gov always thought that he was too smart for the system and kept wasting the state's resources on new over paid employees, daily helicopter rides and dumb programs. Now all of this waste is all coming back to haunt us. Now we can't even enjoy going to an area free park? We have already seen that the gov cannot work with the GA and would probably just abuse anymore budget power that is given to him. It will be a happy day in Illinois when he is finally indicted. After all when the team is losing, don't they get rid the manager first?

Re: The meltdown cometh

Oberon — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:42:15 -0000

Customer, I know it is hard to imagine, but his ability to serve will be less then than it is now!

Re: The meltdown cometh

Oberon — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:39:36 -0000

Cassandra, this Administration has beaten the early retirement drum several times already, which has reduced the potential pool of eligibles for a new offer. On top of that, the current AFSCME contract's raises are back-loaded, with a really big boost in the third year, which will affect pension amounts (if you are still around to get it). So coaxing any significant number of eligibles to take an early package now will require a really sweet, therefore more expensive, deal.

Besides, somebody still has to provide the "core services," and due to hiring freezes and attrition, fixtures since 2002, most agencies are already down to skeleton crews. You can't force people to accept these packages, because most of them have the seniority to survive cutbacks. Eventually they will retire, and who will do the work then? There won't be anyone left who was learning how to do it.

This Administration has already beaten that horse nearly to death, so I don't think that an early retirement buyout will produce much in the way of savings.

By the way, those deals merely increase the unfunded liability of the pension systems, so you are still trying to borrow your way out of trouble. The expenses are just off one set of books and on to another.

Re: The meltdown cometh

customer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:32:20 -0000

===If the Governor IS indicted but refuses to resign, his ability to govern will surely suffer.===

His ability to govern will suffer?? That's the funniest thing I've read on this blog in a long time.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Oberon — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:26:08 -0000

If the Governor IS indicted but refuses to resign, his ability to govern will surely suffer. We will regret our failure to establish the mechanisms described in Article V, Section 6(d), which would allow someone other than the Governor to determine he is seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers to the degree that an Acting Governor is needed. If anyone knows how or whether either the GA or the Supreme Court has addressed this potential situation, please tell us, because I haven't, so far, been able to find out. The Gubernatorial Succession Act doesn't address it.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Cassandra — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:12:48 -0000

In the budget cuts department, the Daley admin claims to have achieved about $10 million in salary cuts in exchange for about $2 million in retirement incentives to non-union employees back in the summer. Presumably, many of those employees were already close to retirement.

Why haven't we heard about similar initiatives in state government. The savings wouldn't be huge, but if cuts in expenditures are needed, a variety of smaller cuts, rather than huge cuts in one or two line items or agencies, may be the least disruptive option. I am sure such options about if
Illinois state government leaders would tell the truth.

Alas, the Dem liberals and their union pals who carry influence would tell us the the layoff of one state employee, even with an incentive, is a major tragedy although they give the layoffs of tens of thousands of employees in one company short shrift.

Re: The meltdown cometh

The Doc — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:03:02 -0000

Wordslinger, it's stuck in your head now too, huh? My apologies.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Six Degrees of Separation — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:01:27 -0000

Next year may make the past two years look pleasant

I think I'll drown my sorrows by going to a disco and ordering one Billy Beer after another, while listening to Billy Joel's "My Life" in between Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor chestnuts as i contemplate my next zodiac-based pickup line. And it should be a disco in Rockford, where the unemployment rate often tickles or surpasses 10%.

Re: The meltdown cometh

Get over it — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:48:23 -0000

Is that you're way of saying: "don't hold you're breath"?