[JayCT]

Please stop the bickering and return to the topic of the OP. JayCT, Moderator

[RunD1987]

Lifeguard not on duty Republican American

This is terrible and sad. One I would hope people wouldn't trash the parks, but no one to clean them up due to budget cuts. Possibilities to close parks next year what good will CT be without its parks.

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Look lets be honest thats all I ask.

If the USA has a debt and can't pay interest on the debt they will default. You can pass a law that says you can't default, but what does that do in the end? Absolutely nothing

Are you going to arrest everyone and confiscate their property? Or are you going to print money and create hyperinflation? We are on track for bankruptcy as a country that is a FACT. We have entitlement programs that have unfunded liabilities in excess of 100 Trillion dollars.

My guess is the first state to default will be Illinois but CT isn't far behind

All I ask is that our politicians and voters be honest about our problems so we can avoid catastrophe. Apparently you can't be honest and resort to tropes like Kansas.

You are dead wrong

I think you are the one misunderstanding this problem. Unfunded pensions liabilities that are the limelight of every doom & gloom article are not a massive problem that has to be confronted at once. By definition pensions are paid out over time and the overall figure is overstated because it ignores returns of the funds investments. The overall state budget to fund pensions is only a few percentage points on average for most US states.

If worst comes states like CT & IL will ask for more contributions and/or reduced benefits.

Cutting taxes by a significant amount does not equate to instant budget balancing and any population growth will happen over time. In the near term the state would be in ever worse fiscal shape which means more cuts. Why would families or single young adults want to move to CT when education, transit, parks, police, etc are having budgets slashed?

[hartford_renter]

Originally Posted by GoHuskies

I think you are the one misunderstanding this problem. Unfunded pensions liabilities that are the limelight of every doom & gloom article are not a massive problem that has to be confronted at once. By definition pensions are paid out over time and the overall figure is overstated because it ignores returns of the funds investments. The overall state budget to fund pensions is only a few percentage points on average for most US states.

If worst comes states like CT & IL will ask for more contributions and/or reduced benefits.

Cutting taxes by a significant amount does not equate to instant budget balancing and any population growth will happen over time. In the near term the state would be in ever worse fiscal shape which means more cuts. Why would families or single young adults want to move to CT when education, transit, parks, police, etc are having budgets slashed?

I work as an Actuary, your analysis is 100% incorrect

Pension liabilities are if anything underestimated because the discount rate they use is usually 8%. This assumes a 60/40% investment in stocks and bonds. Right now bonds are returning around 3-4% stocks cannot return 12%. If you use a more reasonable discount rate like 6% you will see liabilities explode.

Unfortunately I disagree that the benefit holders will get a reduced payment. This won't happen because the union will never negotiate a reduction. So what will happen is that the fund will dwindle to nothing and then the participants will refuse to pay into the system. The fund being zero will result in no payment at all. This is what happened in the pension system in the midwest.

Social Security is not a funded program it is pay as you go and simply will run out of money. It will only pay 75% of obligations in 2032.

Neither the pensions or SS are going to add to our debt, which is skyrocketing due to everything else we spend money on.

Just look at the CBO report on the debt and you can see that we are on an unsustainable path. None of this is exaggerated and you don't have an inside scoop on the "real truth" that liabilities are overestimated when they simply are not.

[illtaketwoplease]

Social Security is not a funded program it is pay as you go and simply will run out of money. It will only pay 75% of obligations in 2032.

Hard to see that happening.

[Beeker2211]

Did anyone catch that none of Lockheed Martin 350 cut came from Sikorsky CT's operation? News broke Friday but might've gotten lost in the muck and mire.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Beeker2211

Did anyone catch that none of Lockheed Martin 350 cut came from Sikorsky CT's operation? News broke Friday but might've gotten lost in the muck and mire.

The whole thing was oddly reported. The Courant had that the cuts were at Sikorskt but the Connecticut Post had said they were not there. I think the Courant article was earlier and the only one that said this so I assume they were wrong. Still they should have verified their data better. Jay

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by illtaketwoplease

Hard to see that happening.

You are counting on tax increases to avoid that. Because benefit cuts are DOA (dead-on-arrival) for any politician to support, especially since baby-boomers are booming the seniors' voting block.

Our demographic and economic (which go hand-in-hand) growth is slowing. Tax increases will slow growth even further.

The problem with SS is the comprehensiveness of our fiscal malady. Take any major economic aspect, and we are pretty bad.

[Beeker2211]

Originally Posted by JayCT

The whole thing was oddly reported. The Courant had that the cuts were at Sikorskt but the Connecticut Post had said they were not there. I think the Courant article was earlier and the only one that said this so I assume they were wrong. Still they should have verified their data better. Jay

It was... Apparently Sikorsky was spared across the country, and most of the loss happened around/in Bethesda LM's HQ. As for the Courant, it's sad that Hearst Media's fact checking department is better on a skeleton crew.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Beeker2211

It was... Apparently Sikorsky was spared across the country, and most of the loss happened around/in Bethesda LM's HQ. As for the Courant, it's sad that Hearst Media's fact checking department is better on a skeleton crew.

Even sadder that they even just made the assumption that the cuts were at Sikorsky. I thought they were better than that. Jay