CalWORKS is a drop in the bucket compared to California’s obligations to its public employees, current and retired. There are billions and billions and billions in unfunded public pension obligations.
Good point. Right now in NYC one of the municipial unions has radio ads running, in the voice of an elderly black woman, complaining about how Mike Bloomberg is laying off “city workers” who are the “fabric of our community” and replacing them with private contractors who are supposedly more costly.
Private contractors do not leave the city with open pension obligations. Any pensions that they provide are funded out of current monies and invested, rather than left as debt for future generations.
Promising pensions without putting the money aside is a good way to go bankrupt. Whether government or private sector, the money to fund the pension should be completely paid out by the time the employee’s service ends or, in the case of a new plan, no later than eighteen months after the end of the service.
