[Brilliant]

If the taxpayer had not guaranteed the UAW's pensions, my suspicion is that they'd be a bit more reasonable in their negotiations with GM, and GM would not be going bankrupt.

[Steelerfan]

Amen. Plus, this is going to be the next huge S&L style bailout that we all end up paying for.

[dennisw]

What a surprise!!!! ////NOT/////

Just wait until GM declares bankruptcy and it's pensioners gets added to the mix

[RetiredArmy]

That is okay. We need those taxes to give the illegals more free stuff. Never mind that people who have put in to these funds will not get them, just as long as the illegals and the dreaded poor get their money.

[Kozak]

Traditional employer-paid pension plans, giving retirees a fixed monthly amount based on salary and years of employment, are now estimated to be underfunded by as much as $450 billion. That could jeopardize the retirement security of millions of Americans, lawmakers have warned.

Now why do I have a feeling that my IRA and 401K are going to be "shared" with quite a few people to make up for this shortfall?

[Gay State Conservative]

Any Boomer who thinks that his retirement will be as long or as secure (financially) as were those of his parents, he's

CRAZY

[BurbankKarl]

thats nothing!

[q_an_a]

this is peanuts, why the money for a bridge in Alaska costs about the same as the pensions for 10% of the retired people of America. /sarcasm off

[Cboldt]

If the taxpayer had not guaranteed the UAW's pensions, my suspicion is that they'd be a bit more reasonable in their negotiations with GM, and GM would not be going bankrupt.

A GM bankruptcy would likely be yet another load on the PBGC. Is there a bankruptcy date pool?

[randog]

There has been an explosion in recent years in the number of big, ailing companies -- especially in labor-heavy industries like airlines and steel -- transferring their pension liabilities to the PBGC.

Hmmm...is AP incapable of saying LABOR UNIONS??

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Note to Freepers everywhere - this is not perfectly analogous to the S&L Crisis. In that situation people laced money on deposit with organizations which could offer the federal government backing prospectively. It was a contractual obligation through federal deposit insurance. Now that was a debacle - but the PGBC is not federally guaranteed. It will take an act of Congress to take federal taxpayer money and siphon it to the pension beneficiaries of these dead and dying corporations. It will be one incredible political mess - but it is no foregone conclusion that Congress would do such a thing. Right now the Delta pilots are trying to obliterate the airline - there is no way that the general revenue taxpayer should pick up the tab for that.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Corrected:

Note to Freepers everywhere - this is not perfectly analogous to the S&L Crisis. In that situation people placed money on deposit with organizations which could offer the federal government backing prospectively. It was a contractual obligation through federal deposit insurance. Now that was a debacle - but the PBGC is not federally guaranteed. It will take an act of Congress to take federal taxpayer money and siphon it to the pension beneficiaries of these dead and dying corporations. It will be one incredible political mess - but it is no foregone conclusion that Congress would do such a thing. Right now the Delta pilots are trying to obliterate the airline - there is no way that the general revenue taxpayer should pick up the tab for that.

[raybbr]

There has been an explosion in recent years in the number of big, ailing companies -- especially in labor-heavy industries like airlines and steel -- transferring their pension liabilities to the PBGC. With billions of dollars flying out of the agency's door, concern has been mounting in Congress and elsewhere over its financial footing.

[Mo1]

Unions?