State employee pension funds entered the coronavirus crisis with $137 billion less than they needed to cover future obligations to retirees, an aggregate shortfall of about 60 percent. With the stock market down 30 percent in a month, and no bottom in sight, that gap is growing rapidly as the decline takes its toll on pension plan investments.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.