Tuesday - May 25, 2010

Say What?

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds.  If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

As FOX Business Network’s Gerri Willis reported Monday, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these funds were doing well.

Although right now taxpayers could possibly be on the hook for $165 billion, the liability could essentially be unlimited because these pensions have to be paid out until the workers die.

Eff that. I’m pretty sure that both of my pensions have been lost. One from my years as a union employee working for a grocery store chain that since went out of business, and another from my years working for an IT company that since went out of business. Not that either pension was huge, but the money is gone as far as I know. Hell, right now I feel blessed that my 401K is actually worth just a little more now than it was 9 years ago. If that keeps up, maybe by the time I retire I’ll be able to live two whole years on that money.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/25/2010 at 01:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Government • Unions-Labor •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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