How does one buy a company without taking ownership of its debt and instead having the GOVERNMENT take over its debt?
How exactly does that work and what on earth makes that free market capitalism?
“How does one buy a company without taking ownership of its debt and instead having the GOVERNMENT take over its debt?”
Simply because the new owners did not incur the debt and under the law someone depleting a pension fund is personally responsible for his sin.
Same way as someone purchasing a house with a dead body on the floor looking to rehabilitate and sell it is not ethically or legally responsible for murder of the dead person on the floor. The Federal Pension Guaranty law guarantees the pension to the union employees that work there.It exclusively runs from the government to the employees with the government reserving the right to seek redress from the entity that depleted the fund.This was a union shop with a union contract.New buyers looking to save the company and make a profit should and are not legally responsible for guaranteeing the government a past liability the government took on through legislation nor the past personal obligation of the former owner unless of course they agree to assume it.If the government wanted the law to apply to successor owners than they should have written it that way and the successor owner would negotiate the acquisition to reduce their offer by the amount of the liabilty that the gubmint imposed on successor owners to pay for the sin of former owners. Bain contributed to the pension fund after they purchased the company and did not deplete the portion they were responsible for going forward as new owners. No investor in their right mind would purchase this company with that kind of liability because there would be zero chance of making a profit going forward unless the investor was Barack Obama following his unique brand of community organizer capitalism.