Free Republic

The impact of ever-higher pension costs on California’s local governments, particularly cities, has been evident for years. Pension burdens contributed to the recent bankruptcies of three cities and more are feeling the pinch.

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...