* Gov. Quinn has been using this calculation a whole lot lately…

“Somebody who retired in 1992 from state employment with a $60,000 pension today under the current rules has $120,000 — and we just cannot afford this,” Gov. Pat Quinn said.

Prompted by some commenters, I surfed to MoneyChimp.com’s online compound interest calculator…

* I asked the governor’s communications director about this. Her e-mailed reply…

It NEARLY doubled.

But her own numbers confirmed the figure I got…

2012

$108,366.67

So, it looks like the governor has yet again made up some numbers to justify his pension proposal.

* Also, Fred Klonsky ran a letter from a suburban public school teacher at his blog…

Dear Governor Quinn,

I just saw you on the news using that word “reform” again. But what really got my attention was I heard you make the claim that a person who retired in 1990 with a pension of $60,000 would have a pension worth over $100,000 today. That’s a pretty sensational talking point you’ve got there! But just like your use of the word “reform” rings hollow, you might want to reexamine this talking point. Here’s why from a teacher’s perspective:

It is entirely probable that a teacher retired in 1990. I’m sure many did. These teachers certainly could have earned their full pension even as they retired in 1990. Although not all teacher retiring in 1990 earned their full pension, I’m sure many did. To earn a full pension, they probably started inspiring Illinois’ children in their classrooms beginning in 1955, or 35 years earlier. Of course these teachers would probably be around 87 years old now, if they are still fortunate enough have lived that long.

But even if they started teaching in 1955, and were 87 years old, and still alive, a teacher retiring in 1990 with a pension of $60,000 probably doesn’t exist. Why?

To have earned a full pension, this 87 year old former teacher would have had to have earned $80,000 a year. As a teacher. In 1990.

(To all the teachers reading this: please be respectful in your guffaws.)

I don’t profess to know all the salaries paid in the state to teachers in 1990, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find a school district in Illinois that paid $80,000 to their teachers in 1990. Maybe an administrator, or a north-shore district possibly. But it would be a very rare teacher indeed. I remember my first contract around this time was for $19,000 a year.

After all, that was 22 years ago. The Dow Jones index was below 4000. Gas cost around $1.40. The Cosby show was cool. You know – back in the day. Kind of like back in 1991 when Illinois legislative salaries were $37,270 a year. Today their salary is $67,876 plus additional compensation for any committees they chair or serve on. And that’s just for a six-month legislative session.

So if a legislator retired in 1990 and had a $60,000 pension that would be a very sensational talking point! But it would be a myth too.

So Governor Quinn, with all due respect, fix the real problems Springfield keeps ignoring. Stop the corporate give aways. Revise TIF districts. Reform Illinois’ regressive flat income tax system.

Leave the fictional 87-year old retirees alone.

…Adding… SJ-R…

The pension for a member of the State Employees’ Retirement System who also receives Social Security averaged $25,390 in 2011. The pension for those who do not averaged $28,740.

* Meanwhile, the Union League Club of Chicago wants the governor to keep calling legislators into special session until the pension issue is resolved. From a press release…

Should tomorrow’s special session of the Illinois General Assembly fail to resolve the fiscal crisis caused by the underfunding of the state’s five pension funds, the Union League Club of Chicago has called on Governor Pat Quinn and the General Assembly’s legislative leaders “to make the pension issue their top priority and to keep the legislature working in special sessions as long as necessary.”

In a resolution circulated this week to the Governor and all members of the General Assembly, the board of directors of the 133-year-old Club whose members are 5,000 men and women business, professional and civic leaders who primarily are Illinois residents, addressed the need for comprehensive action to address the “extraordinary fiscal crisis due in large measure to the underfunding of public employee pension liabilities.”

“All citizens of Illinois are looking to the state’s leadership to resolve this matter promptly. We expect meaningful action to restore the solvency of the state’s five pension systems,” said Guy F. Arvia, Club president.

While the resolution notes that the Club endorses no one plan over others to resolve the crisis, it calls on the state’s leaders for “fair and equitable action to be taken now.”

Noting the consequences of failure to resolve the fiscal crisis now, the Union League Club’s resolution predicted that the “good name and credit of the State of Illinois may suffer disastrous consequences in global credit markets, severely limiting our state’s ability to finance its operations and capital needs.”

The resolution is here.

Just for the record, I’m a member of the ULC, but I didn’t vote on this resolution. If I had voted, I would’ve cast my ballot as a “No.” I’d rather not waste my August going to meaningless special sessions.