More Data on Why California Will Become the Next Greece

In California, the government takers are taking more and more. Steven Malanga
 
Wisconsin offers California lessons on balancing budget - latimes.com
 
Average annual pay for a local government employee in the state rose by 60%, to $61,185 (excluding benefits), between 1999 and 2008, according to the Little Hoover Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy. That's about 70% more than the increase in private sector wages in the state over the same period. Average pay for cops and firefighters climbed 69%, to $89,056, again excluding benefits, in the same period. 

Benefit costs have soared even more than wages. The annual cost of funding pensions in California's 20 largest municipalities has grown from $1.3 billion in 1999 to $5.1 billion last year, according to a study by Stanford University professor Joe Nation. That's an annual growth rate of better than 11%.

Obviously, at some point this all explodes and the state will not have the money to pay the wages, and especially the pension benefits.

Greecifornia