“No. Public employee pension systems need to be shifted to a defined contribution basis.”
No. If the country/economy goes down the shiitter, then the “gov servants” are mostly to blame, they should bear most of the cost.
If the average person gets 600/month from SS, then the average gov worker should get 599/month.
If the average person can’t get SS until 67, then the average gov worker can’t get it until 68.
Now That’s “public service”.
Exact opposite of what exists now.
Going forward, public sector pensions should be defined contribution. So should Social Security. How states and cities with massive unfunded liabilities deal with the legacy problem is a separate question. I would agree with you that there should be no bailouts. That implies bankruptcies and forced writedowns if the unions won't come to the table and bargain constructively before hitting the ditch. Right now, the unions still seem to be banking on an eventual bailout. There will probably have to be some painful failures to sober them up. Trump is likely to face a similar point of decision on a major municipality or state. He will need to stand tough.