>Instead the employees were greedy, thought they could double dip by being part of the huge baby boomer group (thus not paying in a fair share, considering what

>Instead the employees were greedy, thought they could double dip by being part of the huge baby boomer group (thus not paying in a fair share, considering what they would get out) and retiring handsomely. The big thing you are missing is that when the boomer pension contracts were created? you could expect a reasonable return, over and above inflation, on your T bills. Because safe investments that paid out reasonably existed, defined benefit pensions were a reasonable thing. The economic reality is very different now, and the very idea that someone could make good on a defined-benefit pension is kinda laughable. My point is that the economic realities were different in the 80s. The big danger in the 80s wasn't that the value of your investment wouldn't go up, it was that inflation would go up even faster, making your 'defined benefit' worth much less in real dollars.