[lbo-talk] More Times fearmongering

[Max Sawicky]

Pension benefits are future obligations, no less than bonds. My pet
peeve about this is that indebtedness is counted as the present value,
or maybe just the total amount of future payments in one big scary
number, whereas the proper perspective is commitments, year by year,
compared to a state's ability to meet them, say its yearly GDP or tax
revenue.

States as a group are on an unsustainable fiscal path, mostly because
of Medicaid and other health care spending, so something on the tax
and/or spending side will have to give absent genuine health care
reform.

On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Chris Maisano <cgmaisano at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The Times continues to soften up public opinion for an austerity program: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/economy/30states.html?pagewanted=1&hp.
>
> The states certainly have their share of serious fiscal problems. But I don't see why states would have to account for pensions in the same way that they have to account for bonds.
>
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