> Instead of asking why they have no pensions they seek to equalize status by falsely believing we can't afford any sort of pension.

More accurately: we can't afford the pensions we've promised with the taxes we're willing to pay. It's not a normative argument but a descriptive one.

And within the American free market, there is little incentive for people to pay more taxes to close that gap. Why pay more taxes to Illinois--and not get any increased public services from those taxes, because the money is going to people who have already retired--when you can move to Tennessee or Texas and pay less?