No. There are three problems with defined-benefit systems, especially as a form of civil servant benefit: 1) There is far too much risk involved. No one real

No. There are three problems with defined-benefit systems, especially as a form of civil servant benefit: 1) There is far too much risk involved. No one really knows how long a person will live beyond retirement 40 years from now; 2) The systems, as they are in place today, result in retirement income that far exceeds expected returns from investment or growth in GDP over the preceeding 30-40 years of work, and are unsustainable by taxpayers _by definition; 3) The taxpayer - who should be the adversary when negotiating pensions and salaries for public servants - gets no place at the table during negotiations. It is in the best interests of both the leadership of civil institutions and the employed civil servants to increase both salary, pensions, and benefits far beyond any rational economic analysis. Eventually these policies result in places like Flint or Detroit. My expectation is that Illinois is likely to join them in about 10 years they are so far in the hole.