Report: Govt Pensions Have Bigger Deficit than Social Security

The debt burden of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) is even worse than that of the Social Security system this year, says financial commentator Bruce Krasting, an ex-hedge fund manager.

FERS covers federal government workers, while Social Security covers the private sector. And FERS pales in size compared to Social Security.

“I pick on FERS as it is a little known entitlement program. They paid out only $70 billion last year, (while) their big sister, Social security will lay out $700 billion,” Krasting writes on Business Insider.

But in fiscal 2010, ended Sept. 30, FERS had a larger impact on debt held by the public and total debt than the Social Security Administration, he says.

The numbers aren’t pretty. FERS added $62 billion to the government’s total debt load in 2010, he says. And it created a $37 billion increase in debt held by the public. Those totals exceed the numbers for Social Security, Krasting says. (more)