Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders is out. Many have already written about it. You can read the whole thing here. He goes on at some length about how corporate America is puffing earnings with optimistic assumptions about pension-fund returns, but he also has this dire aside on pensions for government employees.

Whatever pension-cost surprises are in store for shareholders down the road, these jolts will be surpassed many times over by those experienced by taxpayers. Public pension promises are huge and, in many cases, funding is woefully inadequate. Because the fuse on this time bomb is long, politicians flinch from inflicting tax pain, given that the problems will only become apparent long after these officials have departed. Promises involving very early retirement -- sometimes to those in their low 40s -- and generous cost-of-living adjustments are easy for these officials to make. In a world where people are living longer and inflation is certain, those promises will be anything but easy to keep.