What’s your plan for retirement? Are you still waiting for the right time to start saving, or are you one of the handful of workers who will have a pension when you retire? That concern about retirement funds isn’t just household blues, it’s also a big problem for the state of Illinois. The unfunded pension liability for state government employees is tens of billions of dollars and growing. 

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has proposed reforming the state’s pension system and scaling back pension benefits for future employees. Critics say that puts an unfair burden on those who work for the state, most of whom receive modest pensions. Do you think state employees deserve pension benefits that you don’t have? Or does the state need a different fix for its financial situation?

Panel:
Laurence Msall—President of the government watchdog group, The Civic Federation
Henry Bayer—Executive Director of AFSCME Council 31, the union that represents state employees
Tom Mondschean—Professor of economics at the DePaul University

Music Button: Saxon Shores, “With A Red Suit You Will Become A Man”, from the CD The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore, (Burnt Toast records)