I’ve spent the morning reading papers by John Boyle, a Michigan n actuary with a strong interest in government. After covering local government meetings for various outlets for about a decade, I have rarely heard the remotest hint of what Boyle believes is key to bankrupting governments.

Fiscal conservatives have a record for paying much attention to a piddly thousand here and there in outside agency funding. Department heads cut travel and education expenses. But Boyle says the majority of local government fat is in wages and benefits. In terns of national averages, public sector workers make substantially more than their counterparts in the corresponding private sector. What is worse, healthcare and retirement benefits are promised without a realistic forecast of costs.

Boyle also teaches math at Eastern Michigan University. On his last final exam, one question asked students to make a simple projection for the year 2040 based on the president’s indication that the cost of government, currently at $4.7 trillion, should double in the next ten years, and economists’ projections that the GDP, currently at $14.6 trillion, will increase 3% per year. (The cost of government was assumed to continue to increase at the same rate.)

Boyle’s papers may be accessed via this site.