So you think we are on the road to recovery, HUH?

Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of Looming Crisis

The State of Illinois is still paying off billions in bills that it got from schools and social service providers last year. Arizona recently stopped paying for certain organ transplants for people in its Medicaid program. States are releasing prisoners early, more to cut expenses than to reward good behavior. And in Newark, the city laid off 13 percent of its police officers last week.

While next year could be even worse, there are bigger, longer-term risks, financial analysts say. Their fear is that even when the economy recovers, the shortfalls will not disappear, because many state and local governments have so much debt — several trillion dollars’ worth, with much of it off the books and largely hidden from view — that it could overwhelm them in the next few years.

Resorting to Fiscal Tricks …… is just what Illinois, which has been failing to make the required annual payments to its pension funds for years, is doing. It borrowed $10 billion in 2003 and used the money to invest in its pension funds. The recession sent their investment returns below their target, but the state must repay the bonds, with interest. The solution? Illinois sold an additional $3.5 billion worth of pension bonds this year and is planning to borrow $3.7 billion more for its pension funds.

exerted from:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40514947/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

West Virginia municipal leaders are terrified that the lame-duck session of Congress will pass Senate Bill 3194, the cheerily named "Public Employee-Employer Cooperation Act."

Their fear is justified.

As is often the case with bill titles, this one is hardly a reflection of the intent.

The bill would force state and local governments to recognize unions and their leaders as the bargaining agents for police and firefighters, emergency workers, other first responders and correctional officers.

The controversial legislation passed the House of Representatives earlier this year when labor leaders got House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include the measure in a war spending bill.

The Senate rejected the bill, but now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, is considering bringing it back up during the lame-duck session.

The West Virginia Municipal League and some leading mayors in the state are lobbying hard against the legislation, believing it will be ruinous for cities and towns.

The legislation tramples the autonomy of municipalities by forcing them into collective bargaining even if their citizens are opposed. For example, several years ago Morgantown voters rejected collective bargaining for municipal employees by a more than two-to-one margin.

The Municipal League also contends the law would amount to an unfunded mandate. Cities could be coerced through the collective bargaining process into providing pay and benefits beyond what their taxpayers are able to fund.

The legislation does not allow for strikes by first responders, but forced collective bargaining certainly increases the likelihood of an unauthorized walkout by those required to be on the front lines of city services.

source

ohio county wrote:If this is a local question, why not let local voters decide it? I'll tell you why - they're paying off their banker, the unions. This is where tyranny comes from. Mark my words. F. A. von Hayek said that a society's individual freedom quotient is inversely proportional to the size and scope of the national government. That lying, under federal investigation prick, Manchin, said during the campaign he was for extending the Bush-era tax cuts across the board. Now that he's got himself installed he's joined the club. Enjoy your two years, Joe.

Aaron wrote:And if our good Senator Rockefeller has his way, debts in cities and counties will rise.

West Virginia municipal leaders are terrified that the lame-duck session of Congress will pass Senate Bill 3194, the cheerily named "Public Employee-Employer Cooperation Act."

Their fear is justified.

As is often the case with bill titles, this one is hardly a reflection of the intent.

The bill would force state and local governments to recognize unions and their leaders as the bargaining agents for police and firefighters, emergency workers, other first responders and correctional officers.

The controversial legislation passed the House of Representatives earlier this year when labor leaders got House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include the measure in a war spending bill.

The Senate rejected the bill, but now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, is considering bringing it back up during the lame-duck session.

The West Virginia Municipal League and some leading mayors in the state are lobbying hard against the legislation, believing it will be ruinous for cities and towns.

The legislation tramples the autonomy of municipalities by forcing them into collective bargaining even if their citizens are opposed. For example, several years ago Morgantown voters rejected collective bargaining for municipal employees by a more than two-to-one margin.

The Municipal League also contends the law would amount to an unfunded mandate. Cities could be coerced through the collective bargaining process into providing pay and benefits beyond what their taxpayers are able to fund.

The legislation does not allow for strikes by first responders, but forced collective bargaining certainly increases the likelihood of an unauthorized walkout by those required to be on the front lines of city services.

source