"Last month, the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands became the first U.S. public pension fund to declare bankruptcy. Like many public pension plans across the country, the financial condition of the ... pension fund deteriorated significantly over the past five years. ... [Based] on data from the California State Controller, in [the] city of Berkeley, the employer contribution rate for police -- the largest area of municipal spending -- has grown from 3.6 percent of salaries 10 years ago to 40.4 percent, usurping much needed funds from other purposes to meet these new pension costs."  MORE >>