Free Republic

Thanks to House Republicans, a major school pension reform passed by the state Senate last week could be undone. As reported by CapCon, Senators defied government employee unions by voting to close the chronically underfunded “defined benefit” school pension system to new employees, starting in 2013. If the House follows through, this would be arguably the most transformational state budget reform since Gov. John Engler signed a similar measure for state workers back in 1996. That measure has helped taxpayers avoid some $4.3 billion in unfunded liability since then. If the House fails, every new school employee hired going forward...

Battle Looms Over Huge Costs of Public PensionsBy RON LIEBER Published: August 6, 2010 There’s a class war coming to the world of government pensions. The haves are retirees who were once state or municipal workers. Their seemingly guaranteed and ever-escalating monthly pension benefits are breaking budgets nationwide. The have-nots are taxpayers who don’t have generous pensions. Their 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts have taken a real beating in recent years and are not guaranteed. And soon, many of those people will be paying higher taxes or getting fewer state services as their states put more money aside to cover...

What does IBM know that most New York lawmakers don't? Judging by Big Blue's recent announcement that it is shifting to a defined-contribution pension plan, it knows that these plans are the only way forward for any company that hopes to stay on this side of bankruptcy court. Defined contributions have been the norm among small companies for years, but old industrial giants have been slow on the draw. Some, like General Motors, are still grappling with defined benefit pension programs ... There's a lesson here for New Yorkers faced with troubled pension systems. The logic becoming so catastrophically clear...

Delphi's bankruptcy filing -- a result of mounting, unsustainable pension costs incurred decades ago -- was grim news for its creditors, its stockholders, and its tens of thousands of workers. But it was also a warning of things to come: for the entire American auto industry, and for Social Security as well. Delphi was a GM division until its spinoff in 1999. As part of that deal, America's largest auto maker granted over 4,000 Delphi employees the right to return to GM. Now, those workers are taking General Motors up on its generous promise. GM will take responsibility for their...