Unionized employees through their bargaining locals and the employer's bargained for their members to have a certain pension benefit in addition to their wage. The union with probably participation by the employers set up an independent pension fund that invested and managed the funds that the union members and the employers set aside as contributions to fund that prescribed pension benefit.
Due to (1) poor management or (2) shorting the funds needed to properly fund that actuarial risk to give employers and union employees more money to keep for themselves the funds have now a certain percentage of “un-funded” pension liabilities to meet the expectations the two parties bargained for as measured against government rules regulating pension funds.
Now there are all sorts of rules about who pays, who is at fault and what the resolutions are in cases like this under established law. One solution would be for the employers to pay more for the un-funded liability. That makes it real hard to get employers to sign up with that union.
Another option is to have employees take only the government guaranteed portion of the benefits making it likely to be cut at ten years or have the benefit cut to make the funds provide only the benefit they can fund.
But, in order to buy votes and do paybacks to a small percentage of his constituency, a US Senator wants the general taxpayer to pay for this privately bargained expectation's short fall to the tune of 200 Billion dollars.
So if you are an individual trying to save for your retirement income (what is what a pension does), you first have to pay for this Senator's buddies to get their retirement package (that they mismanaged) made whole before you get to keep an after tax share of your own income.
Theft. Theft by tyrants.
You pretty much summed it up perfectly.
I’ll just add one thing... you mentioned that before an individual will be able to save for his own retirement, he will have to pay taxes that will then be used to pay for the retirement of politically favored unions. You are 100% correct, but the evilness does not stop there.
Next, they are going to come for your retirement funds (401K, IRA, etc) to help pay the interest of our ballooning national debt (A temporarily fix until they can get the hell out of Dodge with cushy lobbyist jobs and lifetime pensions of their own).
So, responsible savers are going to be robbed at least twice. Once when they pay taxes and then again when their savings are confiscated in order to pay the interest on the debt. Not to pay down the debt mind you, just to pay the interest!
Oh, they’ll give you a “fair” return in exchange for you loaning them your savings in this time of unprecedented crisis... which was created by them... worthless guarantees backed by the NO LONGER good faith and credit of the U.S. Gov’t!!
That is where we are... when will it stop?