by Calculated Risk on 9/17/2010 09:41:00 PM

From David Reilly at the WSJ: Pension Gaps Loom Larger

The median expected investment return for more than 100 U.S. public pension plans surveyed by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators remains 8%, the same level as in 2001, the association says.
...
Return assumptions can affect the size of so-called funding gaps—the amounts by which future liabilities to retirees exceed current pension assets. ... The concern is that the reluctance to plan for smaller gains will understate the scale of the potential time bomb facing America's government and corporate pension plans

I keep expecting the plans to lower their expected returns, but that increases the funding requirements ...