The Bulletin editorial regarding the city and PERS is as dishonest as Barack Obama saying he has cut $1 trillion from the budget, which has been proven by Fact Check to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

The editorial says the state would save about $810 million this budget cycle by imposing a PERS cost-of-living adjustment cap on retirees’ income. The state might save that amount but it takes a minimum of 20 years if all actuarial factors end up working out as projected.

Yet the governor is proposing an Obama smoke-and-mirrors scheme — taking a hoped-for savings taking 20 or more years and spending it over the next two. Even The Bulletin should find that financial maneuver shaky at best.

Further, you say the COLA cap would protect 53 percent of PERS retirees. That number is seriously skewed when you consider it includes many people who only worked five years under PERS, not career employees. It appears the governor selected that number for political purposes knowing it does not represent career employees who will be seriously affected over their lifetime.

The Bulletin, like the governor, has apparently decided the rest of the retirees can fend for themselves as inflation grows and their spending power decreases.

This comes as no surprise with a newspaper management who substantially increased subscription prices while finding a way to further reduce the quality of the product. The once powerful and quality Chandler newspaper has become a eunuch that is simply a rag.

Thomas Clark

Bend