"Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, acknowledged Thursday in response to a question about recent California city voters cutting future benefits that 'they have that right, but it's far better for compensation to be determined by a smaller group ... instead of the passions of the popular vote.' His response came during a Web presentation Thursday by NASRA and the Center for State and Local Government Excellence ... [P]anelists ignored the question of who is going to make up more than $4 trillion -- and growing fast -- in pension shortages to focus on recent reforms that might, if markets never decline again, take pressure off taxpayers 30 years from now."

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