That's absolutely true, it's called fraud. Agreeing to terms you know you can't live up to. I wonder if one could do that, sue the old politicians for the diff

That's absolutely true, it's called fraud. Agreeing to terms you know you can't live up to. I wonder if one could do that, sue the old politicians for the difference, given that they did not honestly account for the pensions. This has the advantage of falling under criminal law, so firstly, doing that as part of an organization is not going to protect the individual that did it. Secondly if they get convicted and don't (or can't) pay, they will go to prison.