State legislators are discussing placing wage increase caps on state workers. Frankly, we can’t imagine why they’re just considering this now.

That’s not to criticize the important work many state employees do, from investigating fraud and child abuse to issuing driver’s licenses to the hundreds of other tasks they perform. It’s a comment on the abysmal financial situation that our state is in.

With a public pension deficit of more than $80 billion, the state won’t be able to afford to pay its retired workers in the future unless major changes are made to the various pension systems.