Pension Armageddon

Pension Armageddon | The Weekly Standard:
The problem is as much legal and political as it is fiscal.
Fifty-five percent of government workers in California are union members, the sixth-highest share among the 50 states.
Pensions have become a cornerstone of the “new Tammany Hall” arrangement, whereby elected officials boost workers’ pay and benefits in exchange for union assistance at the ballot box. 
No other special interest comes close to matching the resources possessed and deployed by labor in California, especially at the local level. 

Even on the rare occasions when political support develops to challenge the unions on pensions, legal barriers thwart reform. The so-called California Rule is a state constitutional doctrine that prevents modifying current public employees’ pension benefits:
Whereas private corporations routinely “freeze” their defined-benefit pension plans—workers keep everything they’ve earned so far, but future accruals come in the form of 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans—this is effectively prohibited for state and local workers in California.
The pension reform game is rigged. As DeMaio explains, “I’ve always likened this to a baseball game.
Reformers are one team and the government-union bosses are another team.
And the reformers are out there on the field, doing practices, building support amongst the public. The unions aren’t doing any of this, .  .  . they’re sitting behind the dugout writing the rule book with the umpires....”