The Washington Post Tries to Scare You on Public Sector Pensions | Beat the Press:
"At their peak, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were costing an average family about 2 percent of their income or around $2,400 a year in the current economy. In the same vein the patent protection that we give to drug companies costs the average family around $1,800 a year in higher drug prices. The implicit subsidy that the government gives large banks by protecting them against failure costs an average family around $500 a year. This is in effect the money that we are being taxed to help the struggling CEOs and top executives at the major banks.

"The other part of this story is that workers did work for these pensions.This was part of their pay package, which is generally comparable or even slightly less than the compensation of private sector workers with the same education. Most public sector pensions are relatively modest, with the median less than $20,000 a year."