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>an entitlement

It's compensation earned in exchange for labor under a negotiated agreement. The fact that the check is separated from the labor by years rather than days doesn't suddenly make it "an entitlement."

The time to complain about entitlement, selfishness, and intergenerational wealth transfer was when we were promising those pensions, not now that the bills are due.

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True, but one approach that might help is paying generous pensions come after basic services, education, and pay for active workers. Versus them coming first then saying "gee no money for pencils at school" is just wrong.

the entitlement and whats unsustainable is the employer guaranteeing ALL of the downsides of market returns not being high enough, management risk (underfunding), rising cost of healthcare, and longer life times.

If I live twice as long my 401k doesn't magically double.

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