McCaskey-Backed Illinois Workers’ Comp Bill

The only Illinois pension fund that they didn't do this to was the IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund).  I believe this covers some teachers and law enforcement.  The IMRF was never robbed.  The state did pay their fair share into that fund and it is now VERY healthy and fully-funded.  But this was how ALL of the retirement pension funds were supposed to be administered.  But in those other funds the state just quit paying into the other funds.  It left them underfunded.  The strength of pension funds is through fully funding them and the money grows over the many years so that when workers retire, the funds are there to pay out.  But when the politicians began under-funding (not paying into the plans each year) they just kicked the can down the road to the taxpayers, thinking they could "make up" the money they failed to put into these plans.  But over years and years of underfunding, you reach a point where it is too late.  The pension funds were so underfunded that you couldn't make up the difference without bankrupting the state.  

The politicians took the money to spend on their pet projects elsewhere, because they chose not to raise taxes.  Instead it's like they embezzled the money to do what they wanted without doing it the right way - getting the revenues to pay for their pet programs.

Now the chickens have come home to roost.  The money isn't there to pay for employees retirements.  It was a very cruel and heartless thing these politicians did.  Of course this began years ago.  To late to fix the funds now without putting backbreaking tax on the taxpayers.  

People are still getting pensions, as far as I know, (for the present) - but this is NOT sustainable.  It is not fixable.  The damage has been done.

I'm certainly no expert on all of this.  My pension is the IMRF, so I'm blessed to be in the only Illinois pension fund that wasn't robbed.  But that doesn't make me feel any less badly for the poor working people in the other funds.  I feel pretty sad for them.  I should add one last point here.  Many people (me included) stuck with lower-paying jobs all of our adult lives due to the promise of these pensions.  We were promised these pensions, and we paid into them weekly - and this made it okay for us to live on lower salaries than others in the private sector.  We were willing to work for less with the promise of a retirement pension.  Mine is very (very) modest.  I still work full-time at my age because I couldn't live on my pension alone.  But at least I have it to help with living expenses.  I will probably work a job until I die though I hope to cut back on my hours at some point if financially possible.