"While no other city is expected to join Detroit in bankruptcy court anytime soon, similar problems brought on by waning industries, crushing debt and surging pension costs plague city halls from Providence, R.I., to California, and in response mayors are proposing big changes to what was long the biggest perk of a government job: a good and reliable pension.... Efforts to cap existing pensions, however, are often seen as a betrayal to workers who took a city job in part because of a promised pension."  MORE >>