All these publically funded retirement funds, are a holdover from a past era.
Companies are now offering 401k funds, which require an employee to build their own retirement funds.
Public retirement funds are an expensive, burdensome mess, left over from the past. They should be abolished.
And some day I hope this example will lead the voters to switch SS to a similar system.
SS should have a pure insurance component to cover those truly disabled, and orphans. The retirement funding should be a 401k-type program where your money is invested in an account that belongs to you. And, where you can self-direct the investment within a reasonable range of choices.
If all of us had a retirement benefit that was directly related to the strength of American industry, instead of how much tax the government can extract from workers, the politics of our country would change dramatically.