DOE seems hell bent on establishing a "Free Lunch" program as far as the pension portion of the benefits program is concerned or, in other words, adopt a plan which can be paid for from the current trust funds. At first light this may seem like a desirable goal and perhaps a doable one since DOE has added nothing to the fund since 1984. Neither have they met the cost of living increases.

The primary purpose of a pension fund is to ensure that the future pension plan liabilities determined by the current pension commitments and current actuarial tables are adequately funded and are held in trust for this purpose alone. It is not the purpose of a pension fund to become an endowment that will suffice to cover the expenses of all changes in the pension plan for current retirees, current employees and future employees without any future new contributions. In fact, the funding is limited by law to 120 % of the current future liabilities which effectively limits their usefulness as a one-time endowment. Nor was it intended as a place to "squirrel" money away for other purposes by 420 transfers. Why DOE believes it can run an adequate pension benefit without adding funds for 22 years is not known but it appears DOE is looking for a "free lunch".

A excellent economics professor of mine once advised, "There is no free lunch. Look long enough and there is somewhere, sometime, somehow, someone who pays for the allegedly free meal". So who is paying here for the DOE free lunch?

1) If a justifiable pension improvement requiring additional trust funds is rejected, then the RETIREES PAY by being deprived of the improvement. This includes all justifiable COLAs not proposed and not adopted.

2) If payments to the trust fund prior to 1984 have "pre-paid" the cost of pension benefits since 1984, the PRE-1984 TAXPAYERS PAID by supplying more than their fair share. If the national debt increased to cover this pre-payment then OUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL PAY.

3) If the norm of government-funded pensions is automatic COLAs and they are not forthcoming to Contractor retirees then the RETIREES PAY their expenses out of other resources if they are lucky enough to have them or do without if other resources are not available.

Someone always pays and it would appear to be the retiree under many circumstances. Many feel so strongly that the excess funds "belong" to the retirees that they believe DOE is stealing FUNDS from the retirees. While DOE may appear to have received a "free lunch" for the past 22 years, one wonders about the other hidden costs, such as, a poor reputation as an employer, not attracting the best new hires, low morale of the retirees, a reputation of being dishonest, and a section of the citizenry that feels betrayed and abandoned and all of this at a time when DOE needs all the help it can get selling nuclear power to the American public; DOE was not successful the first time. It is hard to establish a dollar value but the loss of the confidence and goodwill of the people is a terrible price to pay. The cost of this "FREE LUNCH" is high.

Perhaps if DOE considered hidden costs, DOE's actions would be different. Perhaps it's not too late.