Blame legislature, not unions

The Illinois "pension problem" was created by our own legislature, not by malfeasance on the part of public employees.
Long ago, the U.S. government established the rule that employees had to be given Social Security or a plan essentially equal to it.
Had they chosen Social Security for the state's pension plan, the Feds would have demanded they pay their share into the Social Security fund every year. However, the legislature, from time to time, decided they would take a "pension holiday" and simply did not pay their share into the pension fund. Employee participants were given no such holiday; our share was automatically deducted from every paycheck. So we paid our share; the legislators chose the existing system over Social Security so they would not be forced to make their yearly contribution - and now they want to foist the blame on the employees.
Denying pensions public employees have paid for under a contract with the state would be like having the state sign a contract for constructing 20 miles of highway for a specified figure and then refuse to pay when the job is completed. It seems curious all the blame is put upon public employees, but none upon contractors of the state, even those who have been paid cushy sums for trivial work. No blame rests on legislators, who themselves draw pensions as public employees, even though they did not faithfully perform their duty as their office required.
And though some try to blame "unions," note that the legislature is its own union, playing the role of both employee and employer in negotiating their own salaries and pension benefits.
Ferrel Atkkins
Charleston