There are a lot of people, mostly representing governments, who want you to think that there is no crisis in public pensions and there are a lot of people, mostly government workers, who want to believe them. They have seized on two points of contention, both fallacious.
Point 1. Pension contributions from state and local employers aren’t blowing up budgets. They amount to just 2.9 percent of state spending, on average, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College puts the figure a bit higher at 3.8 percent.
Counterpoint: Of course they are. That’s because governments get to low-ball their contributions since they have none of the funding rules applicable to public plans (especially after PPA) and all of the resources of a compromised actuarial profession funneling them their dodgy numbers arrived at through gimmicks like asset smoothing, open-amortization, and outdated mortality tables.
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