During the 40-plus years of my association with public employee retirement, I have witnessed a number of initiatives targeted at achieving collateral (non-financial) objectives through the investments made, or avoided, by public employee retirement systems.

The path to where we are today regarding generally accepted accounting principles for public pension plans, with the advent of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board in between, is probably worth tracing if for no other reason than to be sure the history is not lost.

The mantra of advocates of the switch to DC plans from DB is loud and consistent: “These changes need to be made to cut the cost of retirement benefits.”

A long-standing criticism of public-sector defined benefit plans is that, unlike their private-sector counterparts, public plans typically provide for inflation-related adjustments to retiree benefits, commonly called cost-of-living adjustments.

What does the future hold for state and local government retirement plans and for the global economy?

With apologies to Aesop, a fable seems to be unfolding on a fast track in the actuarial community with a moral that is still up for grabs.