We contemplated their common crisis in 2012 when we met Rhode Island's then-treasurer, Gina Raimondo. Our interest was piqued because in 2011 she'd succeeded in convincing residents of her state that its future was imperiled. Unless Rhode Islanders reformed their pension system, the portion of each taxpayer dollar required to support pensions would rise to 20 percent. Whoa, that sounded ominous, we thought. So glad Rhode Island pulled back from the precipice. Then we ran the numbers for Illinois and, guess what, our state was about to hit that 20 percent mark. The share now is even higher: It takes a quarter of Illinois spending to prop up a pension scheme that's crushed under some $130 billion in liabilities for which there's no money.