The funded status (or lack thereof) of public employee pension plans doesn’t get a whole lot of coverage by the mainstream media.

That’s unfortunate because it’s an important public policy issue with extremely significant long-term financial implications for all of us taxpayers. But leave it to cartoonist Scott Adams to weigh in on the topic via his Dilbert strip for August 8, 2008:

But via the internet, it is an area that is covered by several knowledgeable bloggers.Two who I follow regularly via my RSS reader are John Bury and Jack Dean.

John Bury’s blog is NJ Voices. John’s one of us. That is, he’s in the retirement plan business. He’s an Enrolled Actuary with his own firm in Montclair, New Jersey. He’s also a community activist who writes regularly about state, county and local government including the New Jersey state pension plan. And if you read his posts, he is – with all due respect – an actuary with attitude. And, in my opinion, that’s a good thing.

Jack Dean is on the other side of the country in California. He edits Pension Watch. He also edits PensionTsunami.com, a project of FACT — the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers. FACT’s primary focus is on California’s public employee pensions and the state’s funding issues.

Hat tip to Mr. Dean for his post about Dilbert, Unfunny Pension Issue Hits the Funnies.