Is Scranton, PA the Future?

In case you missed it, Scranton, PA (Joe Biden’s home town for those who care) has cut the salaries of all public workers to the federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. According to the second article linked above, this will result in lawsuits and will likely be overturned, but unless serious reforms are undertaken to the City’s government worker pensions or drastic cuts are made to the city’s budget, Scranton will be forced to go bankrupt.

Scranton’s problems are not unique, nor were they unforeseen. As the Pew Center harshly points out below (and the Rio Grande Foundation has explained in the past) New Mexico is among the states with very serious unfunded pension issues. Of course, the US Government faces a tidal wave of unfunded liabilities driven by so-called “entitlements” as well.