The $2 Trillion Hole

LIKE A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE, populist rage burns over bloated executive compensation and unrepentant avarice on Wall Street.

Deserving as these targets may or may not be, most Americans have ignored at their own peril a far bigger pocket of privilege -- the lush pensions that the 23 million active and retired state and local public employees, from cops and garbage collectors to city managers and teachers, have wangled from taxpayers.

Like the grasshopper in the fable, we squandered our wealth when times were good and put nothing away for the bad times. We spent too much and promised way too much. The bad times have arrived and there's nothing in the cupboard.