Trick question, Jay.

The obvious answer, from either candidate, is "wait for the Public Employees’ and Retirees’ Benefit Sustainability Commission to report back."

*sigh*

jay, you're the best the sun has to offer, but your relentless reverse class warfare on public sector employees is contemporary business journalism hackery at its worst. you sound like larry kudlow sometimes.

how about reporting that pension plans, like insurance funds, were never meant to achieve full funding?

how about reporting that there is genuine disagreement between rational people about what level of funding is actually appropriate?

how about reporting that a major reason for the current underfunding the pension fund is the cliff our economy fell off of three years ago (and the subsequent investment loss)?

how about reporting that state pension participants were required to more than double their individual contributions under reforms implemented by former gov. ehrlich?

instead of automatically framing the issue as a time-bomb crisis, how about actually digging into it a bit to discover if this is political rhetoric or fiscal reality? i don't mean to minimize the issue (it IS an issue), but your presumptively alarmist reporting feeds a political ideology that doesn't give an damn about facts.

you're still a reporter, aren't you?

Jay this is why I keep calling for polical reform in this country. If they abolish all parites, make everyone an independent, they would be held accountable on their own instead of hiding behind their respective parties.

I would require eveyone to lay out their agends in advance, with real solutions. I would also make them name their cabinet members in advance as well so we know what their staffs would look like.

Campaigns should be funded by the taxpayers to prevent all this nonrelevant banter that goes on in these campaign adds and disallow negative campaigning.

The thing with the pensions is, you have to make it illegal to touch pension money to fund the Gov't. and if invested properly those pensions should be full when needed.

The largest private lending institution in this country is none other than the AFLCIO Pension fund and it has billions, which by the way is why the cost of labor in this country is so high.

It's time for real change in this country and some progressive thinking with real solutions. That will never happen until we have true politcal reform.

Jay
Politicians can not fix this mess..Only those affiliated with the unions can. Are they willing to give a little or will they continue with business as usual? Today is a new day. Unions bully like it is 1959.

All it takes is the political will and the stroke of a pen to end state and federal pensions even for current employees. City/local governments are a little trickier but there is legal precedent for major benefit cut backs when the government can demonstrate that to pay as agreed would be unfeasible.

And to to poster accusing class warfare. 80% of the public sector gets a pension, 80% of the private sector does not. It pays out several multiples of what was paid in, most of it coming from current and future taxpayers. Until government workers walk off the job en mass, and no one is willing to replace them, then they are being overpaid, period. When taxes are used to take from those with low incomes in order to pay entitlement benefits (pensions) to those with higher incomes, that is reverse socialism, or bottom-up income redistribution. It is a practice Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Jesus Christ would lineup against.

I was under the impression that the Maryland State Pension and Retirement System were sustainable, at this point in time. Especially, after the fix that was implemented in the early eighties state pension administrators anticipated that the system would be overburdened and unsustainable, by the time the boomers reached retirement age. To avoid the problems that now plagues the Baltimore City firefighters and policemen pension. If I am misinformed please advise me,