Mortgage Meltdown Will Affect Local taxes

I expect the mortgage meltdown crisis to begin affecting state and local taxes in the next year.  Experts predict the effect on the stock market to worsen and the full toll may take six months to hit investors.  This will begin affecting pension plans as the market slumps and state, local and county governments will be forced by law to increase their taxpayer contributions to these plans.

These bodies guarantee these fixed benefit pension plans and they exist as a plum for governments to entice good people to work in government for less money than they'd get in the private sector.  The pensions save taxpayers money when the markets are healthy and keep growing in value to match the liabilities of paying the promised pensions.  When the markets tank these groups must funnel cash into the plans to keep them solvent.  This is where the mortgage meltdown will hurt taxpayers.