Teresa Heinz Kerry: Playing Roulette with Retirement

[kerrygoddess]

Teresa Heinz Kerry: Playing Roulette with Retirement
September 1st, 2006 @ 8:19 am

Teresa Heinz Kerry speaks out in an OP/ED, on retirement benefits and Bush’s lack of concern in solving the long-term problem of retirement security:

Playing roulette with retirement
By Teresa Heinz Kerry and Jeffrey R. Lewis | September 1, 2006

PENSION LEGISLATION recently signed by President Bush may, thankfully, help ensure that workers currently covered by pension agreements with their employers get the checks they were promised — at minimal cost to the American taxpayer. Unfortunately, it does nothing to reverse the larger, more ominous trend: that of employers walking away from traditional “defined-benefit” pensions. Congress and the president have taken steps to resolve the immediate crisis, but the long-term problem of retirement security remains.

Not everyone is upset that defined-benefit pensions are rapidly becoming a mirage. In the corner offices occupied by senior corporate executives, this latest retreat from company loyalty is considered good business — another way to pump up profits. Among middle-class families, the reception should be less joyous, as it means a less secure retirement for millions of people.

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4050

[ProSense]

1. Excellent editorial! Only average workers have to

fend for themselves:

APC board grants $2M to ex-CEO Rodger Dowdell

American Power Conversion Corp. reported in a regulatory filing that Rodger B. Dowdell Jr., who resigned as president and chief executive Aug. 15, was granted a $2 million in severance pay by the West Kingston-based company’s board of directors.

The $2 billion company also said Dowdell will receive a $50,000 annual retainer and other payments in his role as non-executive chairman of the board of directors, according to the Aug. 30 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other pay will include $2,500 for each board meeting, $1,250 for telephone conferences, 5,000 shares of restricted stock by Sept. 30 and then annually every June 30 for three years, as well as health insurance.

http://www.pbn.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/122298

In 2005, Lee Raymond, who retired as chief executive officer at year-end, was paid $3.1 million in such dividends. Rex Tillerson, now the CEO, got $414,960 in these payments. Tillerson's present holdings of restricted stock would pay him $657,920 a year using Exxon Mobil's current dividend rate.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_pauly&sid=animeAQhDiFI

[karynnj]

2. Very nice editorial from the woman who should have become first lady

in January 2005. Brilliant, beautiful and caring.