the public pensions also have legal safeguards, usually resolving to the state’s general fund.
so far as i am aware, retirees feel safer in public pensions than in private pensions which sometimes always subject to bankruptcy of the parent company.
“the public pensions also have legal safeguards”
Tell that to Detroit, Chicago, or Illinois. It’s pay as you go in those places, which is why they’re so broke. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading about problems with municipal pensions.
And, a lot of private, union pension plans have politically granted guarantees by the government by US tax payer dollars.
(dollars to donuts, 99.999% of the tax payer guaranteed union pension plans are in blue states of which 99.999% are in the Great Lakes states (dollars to donuts))