Good riddance to pensions

[Maggie_May]

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - It really is over for the corporate pension. Now that IBM has opted out, telling employees last week that their pension benefits will be frozen in 2008, it's hard to see what's to stop every last American corporation from preparing its eventual exit from the pension business. Lots of reasonably healthy companies -- Verizon, NCR, Lockheed Martin and Motorola, to name a few -- already have.

This phenomenon, along with the more dramatic cases of companies going bankrupt and defaulting on existing pension commitments (think United Airlines), has gotten tons of press, most of it of the "ain't it a shame" variety. But the real shame may be that we ever put so much faith in such an inherently unstable, unfair and economically perverse means of providing for retirement.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/12/news/economy/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

While corporation's are moving overseas and giving bigger bonus to their white collar works. The middle class America that we once new is gone and gone forever. I hope all that voted Republican is proud of what they have done.

[firefox]

1. People need to work longer to create a new labor pool and keep

a downward pressure on all wages.

And I think it is the fascist element we need to concentrate on. Fascism is the word.

But you are right that pensions in private industry are going extinct. It makes a government job the ambition of almost everyone.

[Union Thug]

6. Dead on.. it's all about keeping workers over a barrel...

The question is how do we stop the machine? We were making incredible progress through the much of the 20th century...but ever since Raygun, we've been losing ground.

[katty]

9. yes-the machine is steamrolling at greater speed-goal is

total collapse

[bleedingheart]

2. Picture this...

In about thirty years we are going to see couples living in large homes they thought of as investments ...which will carry mortgages and possibly home equity lines of credit...

They will have put not one dime in the bank....and then they will say..."how can we retire without a pension?....weren't you putting money away dear????" and it will create a crisis like no other.

Many of my peers are living life with blinders on...and they will live to regret it I fear.

[serryjw]

7. The house has ended being an investment

for the security of retirement. People ARE buying more houser than they can afford, taking ridiculous mortgases like 'interest only,or 40 year mortgage, than topping it off 10 years later with a home equity loan so they can buy there $40K car. NO ONE is ever again going to OWN their home...and SOMEDAY the gov't is going to take away the write off..than everyone is doomed. IF China dumps our bonds that may not be too far off.

http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2005/04/chinas-real-weapon.html

[shrike]

3. And this is unfair how?

To the fat-cat shareholders? To the guys at the top with their golden parachutes? To the corporate entities themselves, who get every damned tax break known to man -- and then offshore their business anyway?

Have I told you lately how much I hate these people?

[liberal N proud]

4. I can't believe that the title to this article is Good riddance to pensions

What kind of asshole write and publishes this shit.
He must be some free lance idiot who is jealous of those who toil away where part of their pay is a pension.

:mad:

[papau]

5. Defined benefit plans are not dead - flat growth in US, steady at 20% of

assets in AU, strong in EU.

But companies that do not want/need long term employees and have no union push back will indeed take the earnings jump that cutting back the pensions of the 45 and older crowd provides when you kill the DB plan and go personal accounts like 401k.

[izzie]

8. Does that mean the corp. will pay every one more?

They said it was part of your pay and they controlled it for 35 years or so and got a good profits in their own pocket from it. So now I guess they will give you that money to save? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: