The State of Illinois has the most underfunded public pension plans in the nation, with a funding gap that is now approaching $50 billion. ... A financial war is brewing -- and it's likely to pit these public employees against Illinois taxpayers who are responsible for paying those generous pension promises. There simply isn't enough money in all these retirement plans to send out the promised checks. If you think Bernie Madoff had a Ponzi scheme going, wait until the wave of boomer retirement hits the reality of pension underfunding.
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n 2003, the government sold $10 billion in bonds to make a required $2 billion pension contribution. The remaining $8 billion was "invested" in the stock market to earn more than the 5 percent interest being paid to bond buyers.