The Wall street problems are going to aggravate an already serious budget problem for the state of Illinois.  

Last week, the Dow Jones closed at 33% below the level it had closed last year, causing the state pension assets to drop by nearly $14 billion in only one year.  There is also millions of dollars less in interest being collected on state deposits, according to the state treasurer.

This drop in the pension investments means that the state pensions will be even more underfunded than they already are.  The most underfunded state pension to date is the teacher's pension, which audits found it to be founded at only 56%.  This means that right now, the state only has 56% of the money it will have to pay out to retired teachers.

Despite losing a lot of money, the state pensions are not even close to broke.  the teacher's pension lost $8.2 billion in assets, yet it still has $34.1 billion left.

Click link below: "Daily Journal" to read the article.
 
Market drains state pension funds
Nov. 02, 2008, 12:55 am    
By Scott Reeder, Springfield Bureau