Welcome aboard HMS Titanic, er, Nevada
Inside Liberty Watch Today - March 28, 2006

Right now the Nevada ship of state is sailing along beautifully, clear and sunny skies, warm breezes and calm seas. Nevada is #1 in job creation. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and revenues are flowing into government in unprecedented amounts. However, anyone willing to take a look at the radar screen will see some very dangerous waters lurking on the horizon.

There is an iceberg of gigantic proportions waiting for us and our leadership is sailing us right into it. What is the iceberg? It's the staggering amount of unfunded liabilities we owe to the government employees for their health care and pensions. What's the size of the iceberg? According to a recent report in the Review-Journal (2/14/06) it's as much as TEN BILLION DOLLARS. Up to $4.5 billion for healthcare and $5.7 billion for pensions.

Here's a really interesting, nerve-wracking aspect of this mess. While the healthcare liability has stayed pretty much the same in the last year, the pension number jumped from about $4 billion ("In Depth" article in the Review Journal to that $5.7 billion number. That's a 40% increase in a year! What the heck is going on here? If the liability can raise $1.7 billion in a year when the financial markets went up, what happens when the next recession hits? 

The real question is: Where are our leaders on this issue? Are they aware? Do they take it seriously and if they do, what concrete solutions are they proposing? Remember folks, WE are the ones who are going to pay for this. The $10 billion is not going to be paid by MGM Mirage, Harrah's, Wal-Mart, Target, Bank of America or Wells Fargo. That's how the system works. WE pay. Always. Anyone who tells you differently is insulting you. Please remember that when the candidates address this issue-if you can get them to talk about is at all.

When the Titanic went down, over 80% of the first class passengers survived. Everybody else pretty much didn't. In Nevada Today, first class means either you are a government employee or you have your wealth safely protected within the corporate structure. For the rest of us? A ten billion dollar sea of red ink is going to be awfully cold.

Knight Allen, Liberty Watch Reader and FOG

What is FOG?
Friend of George, and that's a good thing.