From Grassroot Institute of Hawaii:

Could Hawaii go bankrupt? That was the topic of a free live webinar on Thursday, May 14, sponsored by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

As a technical matter, the answer currently is, “No.” But as a practical matter, Hawaii’s economy has tanked and local tax revenues are plummeting, leaving the state and counties in danger of being unable to meet their unfunded liabilities — starting with its public pension and health-benefits systems.

Is it too late to do anything about it? What can we expect if Hawaii’s public pension and health-benefits systems go belly up? California columnist Steven Greenhut addressed those questions during our free, live webinar on Thursday, May 14, sponsored by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Greenhut, an authority on state public pensions systems, is author of the 2009 book “Plunder! How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives And Bankrupting the Nation.” He also is a resident senior fellow at R Street, a policy research organization based in New York; a columnist at the Orange County Register; and a former columnist with the San Diego Union-Tribune.

In a recent column for the Orange County Register, Greenhut said that during the last recession, the unfunded liabilities of California’s public pension system “obliterated local budgets as pension costs grew exponentially and led to service cutbacks and even bankruptcy.” Now, with the coronavirus recession/depression in full swing, “Economic reality has intruded again.”

After his presentation, Greenhut fielded questions from the audience, with Keli’i Akina, institute president, moderating.

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