The massive underfunded pension funds of states and municipalities and the precarious status of the budgets of these entities have received wide publicity recently.

How in the world might a transportation bill feed our retirement crisis? Congress is sneaking a harmful pension change that could lead to massive underfunding of our largest plans

New Jersey's state pension plans are underfunded by almost $100 billion, and recent reforms do not do enough to correct the shortfall, as more state employees must be shifted to defined contribution plans and the growth in their benefits must be slowed.

Sound retirement security policy for future retirees requires planning. Workers need to be engaged; employers need to be responsible; and policymakers must ensure that pension law, tax law, and the Social Security system operate in a manner that promotes opportunities for private saving, appropriate retirement asset management, and sustainability and predictability.

Because the GASB’s proposals ignore government's contingent liability to pay plan benefits should assets fall short, they omit the full value of plan liabilities and contradict the GASB's own standard of "interperiod equity."

If Washington pension plans were judged by the standards that private-sector pensions are required to follow, they would face unfunded liabilities exceeding $50 billion. The costs of truly fully funding public-employee pensions could swamp the state budget, and at more than $20,000 per household, taxpayers too.

Response to Jeffrey Keefe’s review of “Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers.”

A recipe for disaster: ill-advised federal regulatory policy, super-regulated sectors, and underfunded pension plans.