VERONIQUE DE RUGY: Pension-Crisis Deniers Never Sleep. “I always find it surprising that the people who really believe that state employees should get very generous pensions from state governments aren’t the ones who are sounding the alarm about the upcoming pension crisis. I would assume that they understand that reforming the pension system today is key to preventing some rather dramatic consequences in the near future when states run out of money on their pension plans — which 8 states are scheduled to do by 2020. No matter what data you look at, you can see that many state pensions — led by Illinois and New Jersey — have underfunded their liabilities for years, which means that when their pension plans run out of money, these states will have to either raise taxes dramatically, cut non-pension spending massively, or alter their pension formula for current employees. The question of whether states will be allowed to change the benefits for current retirees will depend on the courts, but the reality is that when there is no more money, there is no more money.”