Why can't teachers/cops live with 401(k)'s instead of pensions?

[scottw]

I wonder what flavor catfood they'll choose when the Ponzi scheme collapses?

U.S. Bills States $1.3 Billion in Interest Amid Tight Budgets

MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

As if states did not have enough on their plates getting their shaky finances in order, a new bill is coming due — from the federal government, which will charge them $1.3 billion in interest this fall on the billions they have borrowed from Washington to pay unemployment benefits during the downturn.

The interest cost, which has been looming in plain sight without attracting much attention, represents only a sliver of the huge deficits most states will have to grapple with this year . But it comes as states are already cutting services, laying off employees and raising taxes. And it heralds a larger reckoning that many states will have to face before long: what to do about the $41 billion they have borrowed from the federal government to help them pay benefits to millions of unemployed people, a debt that federal officials say could rise to $80 billion.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us...s.html?_r=1&hp

[Forester]

Just a clarification about fed pension system - the conversion to the new system happened for all employees in 1984. The new system is a combination of soc sec, thrift savings and a small pension. States and towns should follow suit.