S&P Downwardly Revises Kentucky Economic Outlook

S&P Rating Services announced it was removing its stable outlook on the economic health of Kentucky to a negative outlook, based upon over $33 billion in unfunded liabilities when combining all the government retirement systems together.

S&P credit analyst John Sugden said in a statement, “The outlook revision reflects our concern over pension funded levels, which have declined and are likely to continue declining due to lower-than-actuarially required funding of pension liabilities and budgetary pressures associated with funding post-retirement benefits."

Seeing the possibility of government officials trying to pass off the cost of the unfunded liabilities on business and workers of Kentucky, Dave Adkisson, president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said this at a press conference:

“If the 2013 session concludes without the passage of meaningful pension reform, I don’t see how the business community would have any choice but to call the 2013 session a failure.”

“Kentucky’s businesses have a significant stake in our public employee pension systems — both at a state and local level,” Adkisson added. “Kentucky’s private employers, most of which are small, local businesses, directly contribute approximately 40 percent of all state revenue in income, corporate and sales taxes, in addition to individual income, payroll and sales taxes.”

Kentucky taxpayers and workers in the productive private sector shouldn't take any of this, as the idea of raising taxes to pay for over-paid government workers and their unsustainable promises of above-market compensation the rest of us aren't provided, is outrageous.

Why should we have to pay any more for this out-of-control, larger government expenditures.
The only answer is to cut back on pay and benefits of government workers and make them pay more out of their own pockets for what they get. 

Already the measures being put forth are only band aides made to look like lawmakers are doing something. In reality, they are simply kicking the can down the road again; a road that is getting much shorter.

What is it about Kentucky politicians that make them not understand that the days of big government and overpaid state workers is over? It is. It's unsustainable, and the people of Kentucky aren't going to have the weight of more taxes forced upon them because of paying out wages and benefits the rest of the private and far more productive sector don't come close to getting.