Posted by: trophymac
Washington next? - 02/24/11 12:32 PM
From Comcast.....
States About to Go Boom
With Wisconsin locked in a union battle, The Daily Beast looks at the states that could blow up next and crunches the numbers to find whether they're really on shaky financial footing—or playing politics.
Looking solely at the states that have proposed or are considering laws to trim union rights, the Daily Beast first accounted for 2009 debt-to-GDP ratios, using Census numbers and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Then they accounted for the percent of pension and health-care liabilities that are unfunded for each state, based on a study by the Pew Center on the States. Finally, because not all workers would be affected by proposed legislation, they accounted for the percent of people in public-sector unions out of total government workers in each state, with data from Unionstats. The average was taken for each category and each state's data were compared to the average, with equal weighting for each of the three categories.
10. Washington
Union Share of Public Workforce: 61.2%
Debt 2009: $24.6 billion
GDP 2009: $338.3 billion
Debt/GDP Ratio: 7.3%
Unfunded Pension Liabilities: -$179 million (0%)
States About to Go Boom
With Wisconsin locked in a union battle, The Daily Beast looks at the states that could blow up next and crunches the numbers to find whether they're really on shaky financial footing—or playing politics.
Looking solely at the states that have proposed or are considering laws to trim union rights, the Daily Beast first accounted for 2009 debt-to-GDP ratios, using Census numbers and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Then they accounted for the percent of pension and health-care liabilities that are unfunded for each state, based on a study by the Pew Center on the States. Finally, because not all workers would be affected by proposed legislation, they accounted for the percent of people in public-sector unions out of total government workers in each state, with data from Unionstats. The average was taken for each category and each state's data were compared to the average, with equal weighting for each of the three categories.
10. Washington
Union Share of Public Workforce: 61.2%
Debt 2009: $24.6 billion
GDP 2009: $338.3 billion
Debt/GDP Ratio: 7.3%
Unfunded Pension Liabilities: -$179 million (0%)