Fiscal Responsibility vs. Party Control. What do the numbers say?

There's an interesting article in USA Today with one take on the long term financial health of states, in particular their pensions. They created an interesting map. I decided to grab a map of what parties control the legislatures in 2014 as it was handy. It's interesting to see that some of the long term Democratic controlled states have the worst problems, while a number of long term Republican controlled states tend to stay away from the bottom third more. Some likely exceptions exist for which party has less to do with it like Alaska with all the oil money and Nevada with gambling revenues. So without detailed analysis that I'm not going to do because I'm retired, there is a general trend that would say Republican controlled states tend to be more fiscally sound.

These are just two snapshots and there are others out there which would perhaps tell a different story. It is interesting though.

Check it out: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/07/06/state-fiscal-health-pension-funds-report/29763379/