I'm not sure that Brian has got this right. The 'gold plated state pension' is paid for out of the taxes paid by all taxpayers, which of course does include state employees, and by increasing Government borrowing. Unfortunately, there is only so much money that can be extracted from taxpayers, and only so much Government borrowing that can be financed. I think Greece is early in the long list of Countries that will be finding this out aver the next few years.