&gt;There is no definition of public sector that makes bankruptcy impossible.<p>The US treasury can&#x27;t and won&#x27;t ever run out of dollars. Whenever there is a bank that needs bailing out or a war suddenly the government remembers this. It&#x27;s only when funding pension obligations or healthcare it suddenly &#x27;forgets&#x27; and assumes that taxes pay for things.<p>There is still an inflation risk but bankruptcy does indeed become impossible.<p>&gt;Pre-funding is about honesty of the obligations. If you say you&#x27;re going to pay the workers $X at time t, apportion the money now. Put your full faith and credit behind it now. Make it so you can only renege by reneging on bonds in general.<p>There has to be wiggle room somewhere if it&#x27;s a private sector obligation. Pension are invested and future payouts are based upon certain assumptions about those investments holding. A lot of perfectly reasonable assumptions pre-2008 suddenly went out of the window afterwards.<p>So it is not entirely about honesty of the obligations.<p>&gt;It&#x27;s mind-boggling how ostensibly pro-worker advocates are okay with the mentality of, &quot;don&#x27;t worry, we&#x27;ll find your pension money later, if Congress appropriates enough down the road&quot;.<p>I&#x27;ve never heard any ostensibly pro worker advocate say this.