The time has come again when Congress pretends to walk off the fiscal cliff in exchange for some political concessions. As the US federal government passed its 31.4 trillion USD debt ceiling and the Treasury began invoking extraordinary measures to avoid defaulting on Treasury security debt, X-date approaches ever quicker.

To avoid having to impose a higher payroll tax on their working force, governments all over the world are racking their brains to be able to find policies that could save them from a pension fund black hole.