Using fair-market valuation, Nevada PERS’ unfunded liabilities would rise from about $10 billion to almost $41 billion. Shifting PERS to a defined-contribution, 401(k)-type structure would ensure that benefit obligations are fully funded going forward and that everyone is clear regarding the pensions promises the government has made and its ability to fulfill them.

Joseph Antos' analysis of Medicare's fiscal crisis and reform options that could make the program sustatainable; a response to a request from 16 health professionals elected to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for public comment on Medicare reform. 

The trustees report from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services out Monday uses strong language to describe the uncertainty of its predictions in both the short- and long-term for the medical insurance program aimed at America's seniors.

With 48.3 million people covered by Medicare in 2011 -- and...

Many US municipalities and states are currently facing severe financial pressure. They have huge unfunded pension commitments, and recent forecasts of widespread defaults have resulted in a large sell-off of their bonds. This is not new. Financial history is full of instructive defaults by governments on their debt. Can these past crises teach us about what to do now?

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.

Many commentators have complained about the damage the president's proposed new budget would do to our national prosperity. Less has been said about the effect it will have on something far more important: our national character.

In his scholarly "A Short Primer on the National Debt," John Steele Gordon gets most things right. Unfortunately, he (like many others) understates by a huge amount, the total federal government debt.

Current pension accounting rules significantly understate state pension plan liabilities and overstate their funding health. Using accurate accounting, Washington’s combined plans would face a $50.6 billion short fall. By private pension standards Washington’s pension system would be considered endangered.