EDITORIAL: Box score - $500 billion

That's roughly the shortfall in California's three big public-employee pension funds. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is using the number to encourage his state's legislature to get serious about its pension debt problem. The shortfall - the difference between what the funds owe to retirees and what's been set aside to make the payments - comes to almost six times the state's entire budget. Despite all of New York's budget problems, our pension system is in better shape. But California provides a strong argument for vigilance.