Ever since Stockton filed for bankruptcy two years ago, Judge Christopher Klein has strongly hinted that he’s willing – perhaps even eager – to declare that city employee pension obligations are debts that could be trimmed along with those of more conventional creditors.
Coupled with what happened in Detroit, that process would result in a definitive ruling so that local governments everywhere and their creditors would know the risks of insolvency, rather than fighting them out case-by-case.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/14/6553979/dan-walters-stockton-bankruptcy.html