[sphinx65]

Because they were promises made a long, long time ago, when interest rates were high enough to support the idea of pensions and retirement?

[huherto]

Excuse my ignorance. How are interest rates and pensions connected?

[khuey]

The higher investment returns are, the less money I need to set aside now to pay future obligations. The lower they are, the more I need to set aside.

[sphinx65]

Pensions don't make any money with interest rates as low as they are. They need to be around 8% or so for pensions to be viable. Currently pension funds are doing the same unwise speculative investments everyone else is making because nothing else pays enough. As go pensions so goes retirement in general. Pensions were perfectly viable until the reign of Greenspan.