Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

We hardly go a week without an update on a never-ending news story from Frankfort. I'm talking about the state pension crisis where the state has some $40 billion in future obligations to state retirees. The pension crisis has been years in the making and is a great example of why we should pay careful attention to politics. There was a time when the pension was a risk to just teachers. Now, it's a risk to the entire Commonwealth. The huge debt has resulted in a drop in our credit rating, which means that we're paying higher interest rates on loans to build roads and bridges, and this is ultimately passed off to taxpayers. We're learning a hard lesson here, and its this: when we don't pay careful attention to our government, it's going to cost each of us in the long run.