The era was 1980 to 2000 (give or take)..............

..........and cynicism or ignorance (you can pick your favorite) of state and local government leaders was astonishing.   Promises were made, but not funded, by people who knew they would be long gone by the time the bills came due.  Walter Russell Mead has commented on the issue again and again.  Here is a quote from Via Meadia's lastest post on the subject.

"The problem stems from the “promise them anything” mentality of municipal leaders in negotiating labor contracts with public employees. When one set of public employees — the municipal leaders — is negotiating with another set of public employees — the employee unions — who is looking out for taxpayers’ interests?"