[_delirium]

  I'm not sure how you can justify pensions for government workers when most 
  workers in the private sector have no pension plans at all. I've never been offered 
  one nor do I know anyone who has been offered one.

Hmm, you must not know anyone over 50 or so. Defined-benefit pension plans used to be standard in the corporate world, and when they were phased out, most large companies grandfathered in people who were already on them (my dad recently retired on one that was phased out to new entrants about 15 years ago).

That's one difference that makes some of the discussions with reducing public-sector pensions strange. It's one thing to not offer them to new members, but another to retroactively abrogate contracts that were already signed.