It is amazing that whereever you turn in the US, there are huge amounts of debt. Besides the federal and state spending, consider pension funds in the various states. Furthermore, these pension finds are guaranteed by state constitutions, which means they MUST payout before payroll and other state obligations.
One of the most debt-ridden entities in the US seem to be pension funds. As we have mentioned in the past states like New Jersey have an acculmated pension deficit of $46B and the city of Chicago alone has a pension deficit of $18.5B. While Illinois itself has a pension deficit of $35B. Other states and municipalities are not necessarily in better shape.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-07/news/ct-met-public-pensions-cost-0308-20100307_1_pension-funds-public-pension-funding-deficit
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=8191
And yet the pension funds continue to play Russian roulette with their funds expecting Vegas-like returns. Consider the following item reported in the NY Times. The pension funds "gave" private equity firms $17B just so that they can have illiquid assets.
"The nation’s 10 largest public pension funds have paid private equity firms more than $17 billion in fees since 2000, according to a new analysis conducted for The New York Times, as the funds flocked to these so-called alternative investments in hopes of reaping market-beating returns. [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03equity.html]
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