Barry Shutt spent his Tuesday morning sitting on canvas chair in the East Wing Rotunda at the state Capitol, a prime place to catch lawmakers' attention as they head to the cafeteria for lunch.

Shutt hoped policymakers took notice of the poster calling for pension reform that was propped next to him. The sign had a simple message: "Borrowing money is not a fix. It kicks the can down the road and steals from our children and grandchildren."The retired state employee who spent two decades working for the Department of Agriculture isn't part of any organization, unless there's an unofficial lobby for grandfathers concerned future generations of their family will have to pay Pennsylvania's $50 billion in unfunded pension liabilities."This generation screwed this mess up, and this generation needs to fix it," Shutt said. "And that means pay for the fix."So far, state lawmakers haven't had the will to do that.In fact, Pennsylvania has been shortchanging its pension obligations since 2003. For example, the Pew Center on the States noted that Pennsylvania's Annual Required Contributions for its two major pension plans in 2012 was about $3.6 billion, but the state budgeted less than half that for pensions that year. The ARC only gets bigger with each year of underfunding.Plenty of legislators and former Gov. Tom Corbett highlighted the need for pension reform last year. The likeliest proposal wouldn't have immediately addressed the unfunded liability.Shutt's sign alluded to a three-point plan proposed last session by state Rep. Glen Grell, R-Cumberland, that included the state borrowing $9 billion to pay off part of the unfunded liability. The two had a conversation about the proposal, but did not see eye-to-eye.Grell on Wednesday said many people focus on the borrowing aspect of his plan, but that it is more complex. It also included a new plan design for future members to reduce costs and counted on concessions from current employees, he said."I would never advocate borrowing just for the sake of borrowing," he said.Shutt sees borrowing as the equivalent of using a new credit card to pay off an old one. He thinks the state needs a dedicated funding source outside the budget to pay down the debt and favors a tax on the purchase of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.That's an idea proposed by Tim Potts, who serves on the board of directors for the Carlisle Area School District. In an op-ed for PennLive written last year, he suggested levying a temporary tax of three-tenths of 1 percent on such financial transactions to net between $3.5 billion and $7 billion a year.Retired actuary Richard Dreyfuss studies pension issues for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. Shutt's take that lawmakers must pay the debt is "right on the money," Dreyfuss said, but he disagrees that the state needs to create a new tax to do it.Pennsylvania should cut costs first, starting with subsidies that benefit everything from businesses to farms to filmmaking, Dreyfuss said. Addressing other cost drivers, such as prevailing wage and retiree medical costs, should also be considered, he said."Everything has to be on the table," he said. "Then, if you've gone through that aggressively … then I would reluctantly say you've got to look at revenues."State lawmakers are talking up the idea of pension reform this year, and some are looking at ways to pay down the debt. State Rep. Karen Boback has suggested diverting some revenues from casinos to attack the unfunded liability, while state Rep. Justin Simmons wants to use half of any year-end surplus to cut the debt.Other lawmakers have suggested using part of the proceeds from a proposed severance tax to help pay for pensions.Pension costs can affect nearly every line item in the budget. But paying off the debt doesn't come with a high political return for lawmakers, who'd rather spend money on more high-profile items such as education, Dreyfuss said.If history is an indicator, the General Assembly is unlikely to become more aggressive anytime soon. But responding to Gov. Tom Wolf's call for a severance tax, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, indicated Wednesday that lawmakers "have to plug the leak" dealing with pension costs.Shutt said he has already done his part. He said he sent Wolf's chief of staff, Katie McGinty, a check for $30.59 the financial transaction tax that hypothetically would have applied to recent stock purchase he made and asked her to use it toward the deficit.The retiree also urged her not to let the current generation of lawmakers borrow money to pay pension debt."Talk about the Greatest Generation," he said. "I'll tell you what, this generation seems to be the greediest right now, and that's the sad part. We screwed it up. We need to fix it."