Report shows unfunded pension liabilities (public) at $3.9 Trillion

[malamute]

I'm for cutting all government employee pensions in half or more -- but that still won't solve the proble -- the retirees are only a small portion of the problem, we've got more and more babies born to Medicaid, food stamps, WIC. The government will just take the retiree's money and redistribute in a way that pays the indigent to breed.

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by mco65

I am guessing that a large portion of the public employees are going to expect the Private sector to pay their pensions if need be via taxes..

That may well be true but whether it actually happens is quite another matter.

The problem with pensions - both public and private - is that you are signing up for a benefit that can be 20 - 30 - 40 years in the future. That is way too much uncertainty for me. I don't trust thieving or idealogical politicians to keep their hands off of the funds and I don't unscrupulous businessmen or companies who want to purloin someone else's hard-earned.

Both public and private employees accepted jobs on the basis that there were certain benefits attached to them. By all means change the benefits for new employees. But I think that society needs to stand by its existing commitments no matter how much many disagree with them.

[HappyTexan]

The private sector started getting rid of pensions in the 90's and transitioned people over to 401K's.
They saw the growing white elephant in the room.

The public sector..well the taxpayers will foot the rising costs.