---

Facing the pension mess
... * Unfunded liabilities for public pensions run by the 50 states total $3.23 trillion -- $21,500 per household.

* Underfunded pensions for municipal and local government employees add another $574 billion of hidden debt -- $14,000 per household.

The data from federal sources is also grim:

* Unfunded US military-retirement obligations now amount to $30,000 per household.

* Unfunded federal civilian-employee pension obligations represent another $16,000 per household.

That means every US household (including the half that normally pay no taxes) would have to kick in $81,500 today to enable federal, state and local governments to meet just their cur rent pension commitments.

For residents of some big cities, the news is much worse. For example, New York City's unfunded pension liabilities alone are nearly $39,000 per household, second only to Chicago at $42,000 per household.

And while many of the 107 million private workers have seen their 401(k)s decimated by investment losses, public employees haven't had a hair on their heads touched. Because their pensions are fixed, when public-pension investments go south -- they underperformed by 30 percent in the first two years of the recession -- the taxpayers have to make up the difference. ...