The Reckoning: San Francisco.


The city of San Francisco needs $4.4 billion to cover the cost of its retiree health benefits. The city has set aside $9.7 million to meet this obligation. That leaves the city $4.39 billion short, by my calculation.

A problem like this would ordinarily fall into the lap of the state of California. But California is broke. It has a $28 billion budget deficit. It has staggering unfunded pension liabilities. And it has its own unfunded retiree health benefits as well. So there's no money there.

Option "B" would be some kind of Federal aid, but I very much doubt that the GOP-controlled House of Representatives will do anything to help Nancy Pelosi's hometown. So that's a non-starter.

Which leaves what options, exactly? Other than bankruptcy?