Shifting the load: pension bailouts.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: Citings - Brief article

American States are saddled with $2.8 trillion in unfunded public employee pension obligations. Those commitments, calculated by the nonpartisan think tank State Budget Solutions, represent the largest chunk of the states' total $4.2 trillion in debt.

Republicans from Congress' Joint Economic Committee (IEC), led by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), worry that states will turn to the federal government for pension bailouts rather than fight labor unions for reforms. In a September report, the JEC's Republican staff identified the states with the worst pension problems. Illinois, Massachusetts, and DeMint's own state ranked high. More than two-thirds of the three states' pension liabilities were...