The fact that their obligations are unfunded is a major problem and borderline accounting fraud - they should start treating it as actual debt, even if suddenly noticing the elephant in the room would actually invoke talks of bankruptcy. Coincidentally, this would also mean that the voters can implement the required changes for future, no matter how scary the wording on the bill sounds.
You want to fund things? Get Trump to send a bill to Gates, Buffet, Koch's, etc.
Why blame the public system for the mess private capitalism is truly responsible for creating?
These funds stuck trillions of dollars in the stock market, which is exactly how Gates, Buffet, and Koch made their money. The pension funds are still getting massive returns. But that does not stop politicians from promising _even more_ than was possible.
Capitalists want their investments to grow. Largely at the expense of others.
We'll put the pedal to the metal so the richest can earn more than is necessary. And poo-poo the notion that public workers should get even a smidgen of the same consideration.
Because it won't drive unreasonable growth if we're padding out health plans for the people that do the work.
Politicians bribed unions with promises of payments which could not actually be sustained. That sucks, there need to be checks against that happening, but that doesn't need to be held sacrosanct at the cost of actual services.
There's a reason that the US has a robust bankrupcy court for individuals -- it doesn't matter if you signed a contract for 15% credit card debt; at the point you are out of money and can't pay the bills, there's nothing ethical about keeping someone enslaved to uphold it.
This is the exact same thing, except mostly it's their parents who elected corrupt politicians, so there's even less reason to hold people accountable for the decisions of irresponsible politicians two decades ago.