Lots of depressing stuff here------Straight talk about Detroit and Illinois pensions

Yes, it's fixable.
But it will take strong, articulate, honest leaders.
.....we're doomed.....
Straight talk about Detroit and Illinois pensions - Encore - MarketWatch:
"The financial problems facing Illinois and Detroit are among the worst in the country, and have few implications for the nation as a whole.  
Illinois has systematically not funded its pensions – nor paid any other bills, to my understanding!
Detroit’s financial crisis reflects the large outmigration of people and industry, as well as fiscal mismanagement.
It does not make sense to extrapolate from the nation’s most dire situations to the rest of the country.

Pensions play a major role in the Illinois situation, but are less important in Detroit.
Although one can always argue about the appropriate interest rate to use in discounting future benefits, Illinois state plans (with the exception of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) vie for last place in terms of funded status.
Both of Detroit’s pensions, in contrast, are funded at roughly the national average.
The funded status does reflect the transfer of proceeds from pension obligation bonds issued in 2005 and 2006, which increased the city’s non-pension debt.
But pensions are not driving Detroit’s problems."