In recent months, public pensions have been in the headlines often. As states work to close budget gaps—even as revenues lag—pension costs will, and should, be part of the discussion. But, much of the media coverage has been seized by a cacophony of negative voices on pension funding.

Even as the unemployment rate remains high and housing prices continue to fall, the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee this month declared that the U.S. recession officially ended in June 2009.

At the recent NIRS policy conference, we heard loud and clear from a diverse group of thought leaders that our retirement infrastructure has reached a breaking point.  They said that inaction is no longer an option. 

Retirement experts and policymakers from the U.S. and the Netherlands convened in Washington, D.C. earlier this summer at an event for a dialogue on each country's retirement policy experience.