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Monday, November 21, 2016

New Jersey’s pension nightmare

New Jersey is in serious trouble: For the 10th time since Gov. Chris Christie took office, Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded the state’s credit rating.

This, after it had already changed its outlook for the state from “stable” to “negative.”

The moves will speed up Trenton’s fiscal death spiral by boosting borrowing costs, which will make it harder to make ends meet and address the state’s long-term “structural” budget gap.
The heart of the problem? Pensions owed to state workers.

“We base the downgrade on our expectation that state budget pressures will intensify,” says S&P analyst David Hitchcock. The agency foresees a worsening of the Garden State’s “sizable structural budget imbalance, driven primarily by pension underfunding.”

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6 comments:

Rebel Without a Clue said...

I'm sure that many other states are in the same boat. I would go so far as to say that this is probably the driving factor behind most states either reducing or eliminating pension plans. It just is not sustainable with all of the other "benefits" that states provide for their citizens.

Just my two cents, I could be wrong.

Anonymous said...

He a republican and cant do things to improve his state. they suck to.

Anonymous said...

there is only so much he can do to improve a pension system that is unsustainable.

Anonymous said...

Pension plans are outdated and under funded. The American worker must also invest in his retirement.

Anonymous said...

1005
Let's be clear.
Pensions are not outdated.
They ARE under-funded.

It is criminal what these pensions have done.
They made promises, but then failed to fund them.

They stole EMPLOYEES from the private sector, who knew they could not afford to fund a pension. They lied to people.

All pensions are underfunded and will be in deep trouble once the fake stock market collapses.

Anonymous said...

108, last six words,100% platinum