In general the pension "debt" in most states and cities, like in the US Post Office, is overstated. Bizarre accounting assumptions that require the full pension

In general the pension "debt" in most states and cities, like in the US Post Office, is overstated. Bizarre accounting assumptions that require the full pension cost for every current employee (or in the case of the USPO, employees not yet born) to be held in liquid assets in the present day are unrealistic. Yes, you may represent the presumed liability as a debt, but it's a debt that we know will not have to be paid out in full and which is constantly being paid off every cycle. In short, pension liability "concerns" are often an effort to create an artificial budget crisis to use for political purposes, rather than an actual crisis. When you have to estimate costs 75 years into the future (as the Post Office is required to), the numbers look big, but you also have 75 years to bring in the revenue to pay for it.