The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the post-war years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48.

Understandably, there are concerns about what this means for public finances given the associated health and pension challenges.

They argue that governments should persuade us into making better decisions - such as saving more in our pension plans - by changing the default options.

And there is, to date, only the flimsiest（脆弱的）of publicly-funded health care and pension systems, which increases incentives for individuals to save while they are working.

In a report entitled "Averting the Old Age Crisis", it argued that pension arrangements in most countries were unsustainable.

Governments in rich countries now accept that their pension and health-care promises will soon become unaffordable, and many of them have embarked on reforms, but so far only timidly

By far the most effective method to restrain pension spending is to give people the opportunity to work longer, because it increases tax revenues and reduces spending on pensions at the same time.

In its 1994 report, the World Bank argued that the current pension system in most countries could not be sustained in the long term

One reason why pension and health care reforms are slow in coming is that politicians are afraid of losing votes in the next election.

The author believes the most effective method to solve the pension crisis is to allow people to work longer

the longer they work, the higher their pension

The World Economic Forum plans to consider the future of pensions and health care at its prestigious Davos conference early next year.

To avoid fiscal (財(cái)政) meltdown, public pensions and health-care provision will have to be reined back severely and taxes may have to go up

Younger people today mostly accept that they will have to work for longer and that their pensions will be less generous

They argue that governments should persuade us into making better decisions — such as saving more in our pension plans — by changing the default options.

At long last, in a comfortable home, with a generous pension, he should learn to take things easy.

The FASB and IASB have been exactly that, cleaning up rules on stock options and pensions, for example, against hostility form special interests.

Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.