Seems that the pensions of public employees aren't exactly guaranteed...

[shinblind]

... at least in Rhode Island.  And this applies retroactively not just to new hires.

"the government has no obligation to honor its promises."

While this came from a Federal Court Decision it is early in the process and will certainly be appealed. A future case before the Supreme Court? Will it impact Social Security?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/an-obscure-court-decisio....

Maybe John Shay since he knows under his watch that Ludington's pension obligation is a mess and unsustainable, will authorize  a  secret committee to make sure his pension is excluded from any short fall.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[XLFD]

Looked over the federal court's opinion, and nowhere does it say or paraphrase:   "the government has no obligation to honor its promises."  In the summary of the opinion it says:  

"we find that the complaint fails as a matter of law to allege that the challenged legislation unconstitutionally impaired any contractual rights of the Unions' members. We also find that federal court is not the proper forum within which to litigate the Unions' undeveloped claims that the City of Cranston is failing to live up to the terms of its ordinances or collective bargaining agreements, and we find that this lawsuit provides no opportunity to challenge the terms of a
settlement by other parties in another lawsuit."

I believe the original article inferred too much as part of a sales pitch.  The MSN Business Insider article reprint from The Sovereign Man does not include that.  I doubt this is as strong of an opinion as the author hypes it to be.  Shay can continue giving away our future to make city minions happy with him.

[Willy]

I wonder what the ramifications will be for pensions that employees have contributed to. I know some public employees are contributing 50% and more of the cost of maintaining their pensions. It seems the State may have a case if the Government agency was footing the bill for the entire amount without any employee contributions.