[Eva]

This is sad.

[MonroeDNA]

Unions deserve what they get.

Socailism is not sustainable.

[joesnuffy]

a lifetime of almost free health care for themselves and their families.

FREE thats funny I thought it was part of a contract as wages earned...BIOYA

[Torie]

Just why is the government subsidizing the pension benefits of failed corporations who failed to fund properly? How does that work exactly? Does anyone know?

[mvpel]

The reason the steel company is bankrupt is because their retiree benefits package added so much to the cost of each ton of steel that they weren't able to compete in a global marketplace, even with government protectionism.

[Electron Wizard]

When the retirees were working, the steel market was very strong, in part because there was no foreign competition. Wages had risen so high that union negotiators started looking at other items to pursue, and began negotiating large retirement benefits. Unfortunately they did not secure the funding up-front, but relied on conditions to remain as they were so that the companys could pay the retirees out of the monthly profits. When conditions changed, the money was not there to pay the benefits.

Who's to blame? Probably the unions for negotiating benefits to be paid from future earnings. Those earnings are unsure at best, and also they were taking away from the future workers.

Could the companies have withstood the demands from the unions? Probably not, as it would be difficult to convince workers not to strike because "things might be different in the future."

I dont't think that taxpayers should bail-out retirees who negotiated pie-in-the-sky benefits. It should only apply to pension funds that are lost due to embezzlement or banking failure or the like. We have a basic safety net, called Social Security.