NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE I t seems not only unfair, but also unreasonably costly, to force hundreds of millions of Americans to shoulder a burden that has nothing to do with them.
Only 4 percent of Americans working in the private sector have access to a defined-benefit pension plan as their sole form of retirement security. The rest of us must rely on some combination of 401(k)s, hybrid plans, or Social Security.
Yet the country is sitting on more than $4.7 trillion in public-pension debt at the state and local level.
To understand the problem, look no further than Illinois — Land of Lincoln and home to the …