Illinois is unique, though.

The thing is: part of a person's paycheck goes into a fund that is supposed to support their pension. So they're not really passing the buck to the next generation, the money they contribute is supposed to be there for them when they retire.

The PROBLEM is that corrupt politicians in the 90s used the pension money and basically lost all of it. So we're in a situation where the money that should have been sitting around for people with pensions to draw from is GONE, and all we can do is scoop and throw until a miracle happens.

edit: I shouldn't editorialize and say "corrupt politicians", please mentally replace that phrase with "The money was badly mishandled"