-By Warner Todd Huston
When you or I overspend our family budget and end up not being able to pay our bills a few things happen, all of them bad. At best we do without luxury items, at worst a bank comes and takes our cars away, our homes away, or, worse yet, we go hungry. When government unions spend government budgets into a black hole of trouble what happens? Apparently the citizens are expected to lose more of their own money for the comfort of government union members and to assist big spending Democrat politicians to keep indulging a wild bacchanalia of spending.
The worst mess that states are in is because government unions have been handed luxurious and unsustainable pensions and healthcare plans by those very Democrat politicians that unions have paid off to do so. Again all at the expense of the suffering taxpayers.
Maddeningly, these city, county, and state workers end up making far more than the poor citizens forced to pay for those government union member’s high living and comfortable retirement benefits while the citizens do without.
UnionLaborReport.com has assembled a great report so that we can get a feeling for just how bad the budget mess is in every state of the union.
Here are just some of the findings:
Worst 10 States Total Unfunded Liabilities Debt Load:
California= $121,955,498,000
New Jersey= $103,334,055,000
Illinois= $94,330,617,000
Michigan= $51,393,100,000
Ohio= $46,537,804,000
New York= $45,858,000,000
Texas= $42,392,812,000
Massachusetts= $36,791,052,000
North Carolina= $29,246,320,000
Alabama= $24,778,329,000
Best 10 States Total Unfunded Liabilities Debt Load:
South Dakota= $268,276,000
Idaho= $1,211,621,000
Wisconsin= $1,952,996,000
Vermont= $2,076,132,000
Montana= $2,181,421,000
Tennessee= $3,349,681,000
Delaware= $5,409,600,000
New Hampshire= $5,576,363,000
Maine= $7,129,875,000
Mississippi= $8,481,525,000
Worst 5 States Per Citizen Debt Load:
Hawaii= $15,959,408,000 (population=1,295,178) $12,322
New Jersey= $103,334,055,000 (population=8,707,739) $11,867
Alaska= $7,570,978,000 (population=698,473) $10,939
Illinois= $94,330,617,000 (population=12,910,409) $7,307
West Virginia= $11,077,109,000 (population=1,819,777) $6,088
Best 5 States Per Citizen Debt Load:
Florida= $1,283,145,000 (population=18,537,969) $69
South Dakota= $268,276,000 (population=812,383) $330
Tennessee= $3,349,681,000 (population=6,296,254) $532
Idaho= $1,211,621,000 (population=1,545,801) $783
North Dakota= $627,776,000 (population=646,844) $971
The States
State/Unfunded Liabilities/Population/Cost Per Citizen
Alabama= $24,778,329,000 (population= 4,708,708) $5,262
Alaska= $7,570,978,000 (population=698,473) $10,939
Arizona= $8,679,938,000 (population=6,595,778) $1,316
Arkansas= $4,574,787,000 (population=2,889,450) $1,584
California= $121,955,498,000 (population=36,961,664) $3,299
Colorado= $16,813,048,000 (population=5,024,748) $3,346
Connecticut= $15,858,500,000 (population=3,518,288) $4,430
Delaware= $5,409,600,000 (population=885,122) $6,112
Florida= $1,283,145,000 (population=18,537,969) $69
Georgia= $24,707,026,000 (population=9,829,211) $2,514
Hawaii= $15,959,408,000 (population=1,295,178) $12,322
Idaho= $1,211,621,000 (population=1,545,801) $783
Illinois= $94,330,617,000 (population=12,910,409) $7,307
Indiana= $10,268,099,000 (population=6,423,113) $1,599
Iowa= $3,232,145,000 (population=3,007,856) $1,075
Kansas= $8,595,808,000 (population=2,818,747) $3,050
Kentucky= $23,988,675,000 (population=4,314,113) $5,561
Louisiana= $24,201,687,000 (population=4,492,076) $5,388
Maine= $7,129,875,000 (population=1,318,301) $5,408
Maryland= $25,649,519,000 (population=5,699,478) $4,500
Mass.= $36,791,052,000 (population=6,593,587) $5,580
Michigan= $51,393,100,000 (population=9,969,727) $5,155
Minnesota= $11,782,907,000 (population=5,266,214) $2,237
Mississippi= $8,481,525,000 (population=2,951,996) $2,873
Missouri= $11,877,119,000 (population=5,987,580) $1,984
Montana= $2,181,421,000 (population=974,989) $2,277
Nebraska= No Data (population=1,796,6190)
Nevada= $9,493,191,000 (population=2,643,085) $3,592
New Ham.= $5,576,363,000 (population=1,324,575) $4,210
New Jersey= $103,334,055,000 (population=8,707,739) $11,867
New Mexico= $7,560,957,000 (population=2,009,671) $3,762
New York= $45,858,000,000 (population=19,541,453) $2,347
North Carolina= $29,246,320,000 (population=9,380,884) $3,118
North Dakota= $627,776,000 (population=646,844) $971
Ohio= $46,537,804,000 (population=11,542,645) $4,032
Oklahoma= $13,532,207,000 (population=3,687,050) $3,670
Oregon= $11,348,793,000 (population=3,825,657) $2,966
Penn.= $23,681,280,000 (population=12,604,767) $1,879
So. Carolina= $20,690,760,000 (population=4,561,242) $4,536
So. Dakota= $268,276,000 (population=812,383) $330
Tennessee= $3,349,681,000 (population=6,296,254) $532
Texas= $42,392,812,000 (population=24,782,302) $1,711
Utah= $4,284,242,000 (population=2,784,572) $1,539
Vermont= $2,076,132,000 (population=621,760) $3,339
Virginia= $13,344,000,000 (population=7,882,590) $1,693
Washington= $7,722,510,000 (population=6,664,195) $1,166
West Virginia= $11,077,109,000 (population=1,819,777) $6,088
Wisconsin= $1,952,996,000 (population=5,654,774) $1,073
Wyoming= $1,618,514,000 (population=544,270) $2,974
The full report has even more information so check it out.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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