How to Tackle Government Labor Costs
Written by Michael Moran on April 29, 2010 – 6:01 am
A. Gary Shilling writes in today’s Wall Street Journal on the need to lower government labor costs.
He writes: “Life is tough and getting tougher for state and local governments. Revenues from personal and corporate income and sales taxes are down and property taxes are weakening. Budget deficits are jumping, and states now issue debt to fund routine expenditures. Meanwhile, pension obligations are underfunded to the tune of $1 trillion, according to the Pew Research Center. States on average have set aside just 7.1% of retiree health care and other nonpension benefits, and 20 states have reserved nothing.”