401(k)s by design can't extract funding as future liabilities. Are there proposals for ways to do this for pensions? I know there are pushes to "fully-fund" them, but the temptation to use overly optimistic projections seems like it will never really go away.
The formula is simple, don’t allow skipping out on liabilities and have an independent entity administer the plan. In New York, the state comptroller controls the pension funds as well as 529 plans. This avoids the issues in many states and the private sector where executives raid the funds.
The other issue with the anti-pension crowd is that people need to live. So no matter what you do, the public ends up paying for things like subsidized housing, healthcare and other entitlements that impoverished elderly people end up needing without adequate income. I think will start to appreciate this phenomenon when the wave of 50-somethings purged by the Fortune 1000 start qualifing for Medicaid.
Anyway, consider that this is all quite new to us. A highly financialized pension setup is not something multiple generations have done and the pension demographics have never really been what they are now, or will be soon.
I'm not sure the macroeconomics of that many pensioners, living for 30-40 years on savings... it goes beyond just financial math, or even political-financial math.