5 ms·

I think that a pension is a promise to the employee that should be held. I also think it was silly to offer pensions in the first place since it is not possibl

• cma 13y ago
  Make commitments, launder out the money through dividends, renege. (not applicable to cities, etc.)
• bradleyjg 13y ago
  A contract is how we formalize promises. Every contract is formed in the shadow of its governing law. Municipal bankruptcies have been a part of the law of the United States since 1937. ∴ no promises are being broken in a meaningful sense.
• ef4 13y ago
  Every debt is a promise that should be held. But in a bankruptcy that's not possible, so it only becomes a question of which promises will be broken and by how much.
• GVIrish 13y ago
  It is difficult to predict the future but when it comes down to it, most of the time when these pensions go belly up, it is due to significant mismanagement and incompetence. I think a big failing of government pension funds (and Social Security) is that there is always a tremendous temptation for politicans to borrow against them, and leave the repayment to someone who will be elected after they're long gone. The next person kicks the can down the road, and sooner or later you're Detroit. With sane and responsible management I'm sure some pensions would fail anyway because there's always the chance of catastrophe. But I've seen enough pension problems that were the result of risky investing, poor forecasting, and irresponsible borrowing that I feel like most of the time the pension needn't have failed or gotten cut.