How Problems Compound

Two former legislators - and retired teachers - explain to The Columbian why an unaffordable, unjustified pension benefit is a good thing. Hint: It gives retirees more money.

Nonsense.

As AWB president Don Brunell wrote in his column last January:

The program was supposed to pay for itself.

But there was a flaw. Because of the way the law was written, the gain-sharing payments permanently increased pension benefits for tens of thousands of state workers. ...

To date, the legislature’s "no-cost" gain-sharing program has increased the state’s pension obligation by $2 billion. Fortunately, the legislation contains a “kill switch” that allows lawmakers to end the gain-sharing program at any time. They should do just that and the sooner the better.

But more than that, they should take a lesson from what happened. Benefits have costs. There is no free lunch. If you provide a benefit, you must be able to pay for it.

Too often, when lawmakers make a mistake, as they did with gain-sharing, it's the taxpayers who pay for it. This one they can fix now. And should.