This excerpt originally appeared in Forbes.com on November18, 2011.

Rhode Island had become a paragon for those warning of the pension crisis in states. Eileen Norcross, a pension expert at George Mason University, ran the state’s pension figures using a different discount rate, one that she and many financial analysts believe properly reflects the costs of delivering the benefits promised to public employees. With her numbers, the unfunded pension liability more than doubles. At $18.8 billion, it approaches nearly half of the state’s estimated GDP.