DeMint: No Pension Bailout

Senator DeMint has quickly managed to become one of my favorite Senators in Congress. His stance on proposed bailouts of state pension funds is yet another reason to like the Senator from South Carolina:

The South Carolina senator has joined the Illinois Policy Institute’s  national “No Pension Bailout” campaign — an effort to stop Congress from  attempting to rescue failing state and municipal pension plans.

“Our greatest concern is states will assume they can run their pension  systems into bankruptcy and then turn to the federal government for bailout,” DeMint said Thursday.

He also suggested the problem is the result of state legislators trying for  decades to win over voters through pension promises based “on accounting methods  that would put any business in jail.”

The Illinois Policy Institute estimates that the federal government would have to fork over $2.5 Trillion in a bailout of state pension funds, of which Illinois is likely to receive the largest share. Guess who originally proposed the bailout? That’s right, Illinois Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.

Governor Quinn’s proposal is bordering on the absurd. As a contrast, remember that the citizens of Wisconsin elected Governor Walker in order to get Wisconsin’s finances under control. Governor Walker then proceeded to take the necessary steps in order to achieve that goal.

Meanwhile, Gov. Quinn is avoiding taking on the unions in his own state in order to find sound solutions to the states’ fiscal issues. If the citizens of Illinois don’t see the need to change course they deserve the fiscal mess that is heading their way, and they most certainly do not deserve a bailout.