Cost of living Dear Sir: In his column published March 2, Chamber of Commerce President ' Richard Lesher faulted Congress for exploding ex-ploding the budget by hitching benefit payments to the cost of living. The real enemy is inflation, not indexing, index-ing, for if there were no increase in prices, there would be no cost-of-living adjustments. We wonder how Mr. Lesher, and the big business interests he represents, would react to a suggestion that prices be frozen, or possibly rolled back to 1962 levels. Truth is, COLAs protect the buying power of the original benefit, no more and no less. Is it possible that Mr. Lesher and big business tremble in their boots at the very thought of having to negotiate an indexed in-dexed pension plan for corporate employees? Sincerely, L.J. ANDOLSEK President, National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Washington, D.C.