Free Republic

Older Americans' health care benefits aren't a 'legacy,' they were earned — and should be honored. As the U.S. economy continues its meltdown, it is unthinkable that the retirees who fought wars and built our nation through decades of labor, earning post-employment pensions and medical benefits, are among those being faulted for America's economic problems. Lately, economists, talk-show hosts, journalists and even politicians have been echoing the corporate-speak by tagging baby boomers and retirees' earned pensions and health benefits as "legacy costs" dragging our nation down. But benefits received by corporate and municipal retirees such as health insurance coverage and...

Rick Wagoner Chairman and CEO General Motors Corporation Op-ed submission to The Wall Street Journal December 1, 2005 Since mid-October, General Motors has announced plans to close 12 North American manufacturing facilities and eliminate 30,000 jobs by 2008; trim $1 billion in net material costs in 2006; and, in cooperation with the United Automobile Workers, reduce GM’s retiree health-care liabilities by $15 billion, or about 25 percent, for an annualized expense reduction of $3 billion. The reason for these dramatic actions is no secret: GM has lost a lot of money in 2005, due to rapidly increasing health-care and raw-material...

Legislation introduced in both the House and Senate to provide health care benefits to retirees from steel companies hurt by unfair steel imports stands virtually no chance of passage, according to U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller. In a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, Rockefeller was critical of President George Bush's stance on both that measure and protecting the U.S. steel industry in general. "We now know this administration has no commitment to the survival of the U.S. steel industry, and no regard for how people's lives and entire communities are being destroyed by the steel import crisis," Rockefeller charged in...