There are so very many things taxpayers can legitimately complain about:  paying taxes to support idiotic foreign wars, overly generous congressional salaries and benefits, bridges to nowhere in Alaska, bailouts of banks and car companies, and the list goes on.  Compared to the never-ending war in Afghanistan, PERA is a tiny drop in the bucket.  I'm not saying the PERA thing is a non-issue, not at all.  It's just a small example of a larger American problem....one which politicians have not guts or incentive to solve.