United Airlines's recent announcement that it will skip payments to its four pension funds while it is in Chapter 11 has some observers murmuring about a government bailout. And not just any old bailout, but something akin to the hundreds of billions spent on the savings-and-loan debacle in the late 1980s. An overreaction? Unfortunately, no. What has people nervous is that United's decision to stop contributing to its pension plans is not as limited as it might seem. The carrier skipped its July payment of $72 million, and the September contribution of almost $500 million and the October one of...
