[+] http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/?p=3096 (How Should the State of Illinois Pay for its Unfunded Pension Liability? The Case for a Statewide Residential Property Tax)
By getting the whole "municipality" thing out of the way and falling under county jurisdiction, property taxes are reasonable (and we pay for emergency services from adjacent municipalities), lot sizes are bigger, more choice over who delivers our services (like, say, trash), and we have the benefits of both Chicago and the surrounding areas.
Granted, Cook County and the State of Illinois all have their problems with unfunded pensions, but removing one layer definitely helps.
If voter demographics keep rebalancing towards the young and un-pensioned, those pensions will probably be slashed quite a bit.
“Benefits to public employees are protected under the Illinois Constitution, and a recent attempt to reduce the unfunded liability by reducing retirees’ benefits was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-illinois-pension-law-court-...
Which can be amended if there is popular will. I don’t think state pensions are enforceable under federal law.
The number of people over in the brackets over 60 is substantially less than the younger brackets. Median age of the US population is 37.9.
Going back farther in history (like 1930 and before), the population pyramid did look quite different, though. There's a fun tool here to check it out (1900-2000): https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/055/
Pretty similar to how the Bay Area operates (you get to stay if you're rich or continue to grind, otherwise you have to GTFO).
States are sovereign, it's more likely that when the shit hits the fan with state/local debt and broader economic conditions that the states will just stop paying and renegotiate general obligations. Look at what is happening with puerto rico, and think about how it would play out in a scenario where the Federal government has more limited ability to drive anything.