--- description: This is a topic I've been obsessed about in recent days. From San Jose to Detroit, Illinois to Rhode Island, cities and states are struggling... title: Can Pensions Be Fixed? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bd3407a55418491/69868381169ab077cf2780bc/1370879311.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pension](/tag/pension/) ## Pension Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Can Pensions Be Fixed?  by [Rana Foroohar](/author/rana-foroohar/)  ## Rana Foroohar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2014 4:18 PM CUT  Getty Images  by [Rana Foroohar](/author/rana-foroohar/)  ## Rana Foroohar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2014 4:18 PM CUT This is a topic I’ve been obsessed about in recent days. From San Jose to Detroit, Illinois to Rhode Island, cities and states are struggling with the issue. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie is proposing a new $34.4 billion budget that includes more than $2 billion in pension payments, the largest outlay yet to shore up the crisis in pensions for public workers. Can it work? To find out, listen to the New York Times’ Joe Nocera and I discuss the topic on the latest edition of WNYC’s Money Talking, here: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/11410/can-pensions-be-fixed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/11410/can-pensions-be-fixed/"},"headline":"Can Pensions Be Fixed?","datePublished":"2014-03-03T16:18:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:32:30.945Z","description":"This is a topic I've been obsessed about in recent days. From San Jose to Detroit, Illinois to Rhode Island, cities and states are struggling...","url":"https://time.com/11410/can-pensions-be-fixed/","keywords":["Pension"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bd3407a55418491/69868381169ab077cf2780bc/1370879311.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rana Foroohar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rana-foroohar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bd3407a55418491/69868381169ab077cf2780bc/1370879311.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pension","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pension/","name":"Pension"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/11410/can-pensions-be-fixed/","name":"Can Pensions Be Fixed?"}}]}] ```