Reply #9: The unions actually played a huge role in this debacle. [View All]

[hack89]

there is no state in America where unions hold as much power as they do in Rhode Island. Not only can you not get elected without union support, but union officials are well represented in legislative staffs and committees. They wield enormous power.
The price for their support has always been generous benefits for their workers. Many politicians gave them what they wanted with no thought for the consequences. Those same politicians then consistently neglected to fund those pension funds at adequate levels because the cost was too high and they needed to fund other services.

This problem was not caused by the recent economic meltdown - this problem was recognized over a decade ago. It was simply ignored.

Now we are between a rock and a hard place. To adequately fund all promised benefits would gut every other government service - education, senior care, people with disabilities, mass transit. There is simply not enough money to go around.