These public pension systems used to have too much money. Now they’re in crisis. What happened?
In 2001, some of the country’s biggest public pension systems were flush. The plan serving Kentucky state workers, for example, was 125.8% funded, meaning it had 25.8% more money on hand to pay all of what it owed current retirees and workers expected to retire for the next 30 years. But not even two decades later, Kentucky’s pensions, and some other previously over-funded plans, were in crisis. What happened? In Kentucky, lawmakers approved extra benefits for plan participants — even making them...
