The next big government/Big Labor bailout
And the hits just keep coming. Fresh off the $26 billion BigGovJobs union bailout, the Dems are pushing another labor-backed rescue for beleaguered pension funds. Estimated initial cost: $8 to $10 billion, with as much as $165 billion in potential taxpayer-funded liabilities on the horizon.
The WSJ spotlights:
Congress is gone for August—heaven be praised—but that hasn’t stopped unions from quietly mobilizing to push through a big new priority this fall: a pension bailout. Big Labor is going Code Red on the issue, in the face of a looming accounting change that would force companies to confront the Ponzi-style nature of multi-employer pension plans.
We wrote in June about this class of some 1,500 union-run retirement vehicles, in which companies across an entire industry pay into a single pension pool. Hundreds of these multi-employer pools are badly underfunded, thanks to years of labor funneling money into new pay and benefits, rather than into the funds for retirees.
The big problem with these plans is that when one company in the pool goes out of business, the other companies remain on the hook for the cost of the plan. These spiraling liabilities inspired Pennsylvania Senator and Big Labor favorite Bob Casey to introduce legislation to cordon off “orphaned” pensions—those for which an employer has stopped contributing or withdrawn from the plan—and drop them on the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The PBGC is already significantly underfunded and taxpayers are its ultimate backstop. Yet the Casey bailout could dump as much as $165 billion in new liabilities on the PBGC, while multi-employer plans would get a clean bill of health. What a deal…
Vincent Vernuccio at CEI explains what’s driving Dems:
In order to save the Democratic Party, they must save the unions (or more specifically, the unionized companies) from failing.
While Democrats will tout the union pension bailout bill as another way to “create or save jobs,” it is misleading. The union pension bailout bill will save Democrat politicians’ jobs and it may also temporarily save some union jobs, but at what expense?
…Failing to bailout the union pensions would likely cause the failure of a fairly high number of unionized employers. If unionized employers fail, unions will lose members. Without union members, unions would have no union dues with which they can fund Democrats’ political campaigns and would not be able to mobilize effective Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts.
There are a couple of reasons Democrats and their union handlers are pushing this poisonous bill now: Union bosses and Democrats know there is likely going to be a major upheaval in November. As a result, what they have not been able to accomplish in the last 18 months in Washington will presumably be stalled for another few years (at least until 2013). They cannot survive that long. The union pension bailout bill is the lifeline to ensure their survival until they can regain dominance again.
Political self-preservation above all else — all on your dime.
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Methinks Chinese dime.
Ahhhhhhh, what would the day be like without coffee and my morning surprize from prez obama and the dems! I have learned to expect it every day, and I am NEVER DISAPPOINTED. Thank you prez obama. Thanks dems. See you all on election day!
When your salvation depends on union thugs, you are cooked.
Michelle, please correct 165 million to 165 billion in your first paragraph.
Let them fail. All these three card Monty pension funds must be euthanized.
The Dems will own it.
So, here we have Unions that raid pension funds to give money to the Craps and now those funds are nearly bankrupt and the tax payers are being held liable for Unions raiding pension funds.
Mel Brooks as Gov. LaPetomaine in Blazing Saddles said it best; “Gentelman, we must do something to protect our phoney-baloney jobs”.
Oops–should be “Gentleman”
I have no quarrel with unions provided they are not public employee unions, that the public is not asked to bailout the union, and that public works jobs can be bid by both union and non-union contractors. The problem is that there are less and less unions that can stand on their own. More and more they need protections and bailouts from the taxpayer. At that point, I view the union as a cancer who will ultimately destroy the host.
Every day is a new twist on the roller coaster that is this administration. My worst fear is that many people are still too stupid to take a look at what’s going on and blame Duh Won. I hope we see a turning in November but I’m skeptical.
We need strong Conservatives to articulate this message constantly and assertively.
That message and the growing understanding of the truth of the danger that Democrats and their Anarchist allies pose to America (and indeed the world), will turn the tide of public opinion. Hopefully this will be the high water mark for America’s domestic enemies and portend the slow dismantling of the tyrant government apparatus. Hopefully.
Too bad we can’t have a Conservative PBS and NPR to spread the message about these criminals. But I guess that would be an hypocrisy. Sigh.
If you want to read the full article, go to google.com, type in title of article The Next big pension bailout, and then add the plus sign and input wsj for wall street journal. The direct link to the article will come up. Click on the direct link and that will take you to the article via bypassing the subscription block.
I guess this trick is why Murdoch is pissed at google and talks about taking action against them from time to time.
If the Unions were realistic in the benefits they offered to their employees, we would be in this mess.
However we decided to bail out GM and Chrysler after poor management combined whit overzealous unions bankrupted the companys.
Hmmm, let’s see;
White – screwed
Male – screwed
Heterosexual – screwed
Conservative – screwed
Catholic – screwed
Self-employed – screwed
Non-union – screwed
Retired military – screwed
You would think that with all of this screwing, I might get a kiss with it somewhere. But noooooo!
Ragman,
You have it right. White men get blamed for everything and the other groups in society want to see us at the bottom of the pile. They will never stop trying to take from us and retain those things for themselves.
I used to live in a city that was 80% non-white, yet when I applied for many jobs, it was stated on the application forms that preference would be given to visible minorities. I would check off the box that denoted my visible minority status, and when I was called for an interview, the inevitable question of why I proclaimed to belong to a visible minority group was asked.
I would reply that since I lived in a commmunity where 80% of the people were not white, my caucasion ethnicity therefore caused me, by definition, to be a minority. While many interviewers agreed with the technical merits of my argument, they nonetheless stated that a minority meant someone who wasn’t white.
After many struggles, I have decided to initiate a move to China instead of continuing to live in North America.
In China, being a white male, I will be treated like royalty. White people in general are highly regarded by the chinese (except in HK where they think we are fat, lazy and stupid) and with all the pretty chinese girls avaiable, I should be able to solicit my fare share of kisses.
I haven’t acquired a taste for the food and probably never will, but there are enough KFC, McDonald’s and western restaurants there that I should be able to eat food to my liking 50% of the time.
What is the ratio of women to men there? 3:2 or so? Great odds of finding the perfect mate.
Ragman;
Just be grateful we haven’t been told, “You might want to put some ice on that…”
On the larger point of Michelle’s post, this is just MORE FASCIST ECONOMICS…
Remember, the corporatist collective is always composed of three parts…
BIG GOVERNMENT in control
BIG (compliant) BUSINESS
(and classically) BIG LABOR
I remember an article in the WSJ where it said that the SEIU has two pension plans. One for management and one for everybody else. Guess which one is performing poorly?
Hey, don’t I get a vote for/against these bailouts?
Red Dog,
If I remember correctly, it is something like 1.3/1 in favour of male-to-female, but as I said, being white, the ratio and number of chinese women available will not matter. My ethnicity will give me an instant advantage over the native population.
With all that fast food, aren’t you afraid of living up to Hong Kong perceptions of “fat, lazy and stupid”?
Unions, unless severely restricted, will be the death of America.
Their usefulness to the worker was over decades ago. Modern day workers don’t need protection from their employers, like they did early in the last century.
The union heirarchy is now openly partnered with progressives, marching in lock-step to overthrow the government of the United States.
Unions, and Progressivism are clear and present threats to our liberty.
Former material witnesses in Blago’s trial?
Is it time for a French Style Revolution yet?
Roll out the guillotine.
Personally, I am at the point where I am opposed to giving any government funds to any private organization for any reason other than for a services contract.
I don’t care if it is a union, a university, an ethanol plant, a corporation, a charity, …..anything.
I also believe the Federal government has no business bailing out a city or state becasue of their over spending or mismanagement.
Take away the safety net and watch how careful a wire walker gets.
I want to know where these congressmen think all this money comes from…are they really that stupid?
Rouge,
I have a very fast metabolism and have a hard time maintaining a healthy weight. While many people try to reduce their caloric intake, I try to go the opposite route and increase my calories, so no chance of me ever getting fat.
I am quite certain I burn more calories just by thinking than most people do by riding an exercise machine. I often look at heavy people with a bit of envy for their ability to pack on the pounds so easily.
So, Obama is using MY money to repay the labor union thugs who got him elected. Nice. The unions are responsible for much of the economic mess we are in. They are responsible for Obama being POTUS. And my tax money is helping them??? Is it NOW time to start starving the beast?? If not now, then WHEN?? I am so sick of this. I am also paying for that imam to go over to God knows where doing God knows what. I am paying for abortions in the name of health care. I am paying the salaries of the a-holes in congress who are giving me the finger. When is enough enough??? Rags?
Drain the unions of their political power!
Work hard to vote every Democrat/Liberal out of office at the Federal, State and Local levels in November.
Make any connection to a labor union completely toxic to political candidates.
Mrs. Malkin,
Do you think, the Obama Regime, with support from the Unions, will make a grab for 401(k)’s and IRA’s?
There has been talk about seizing private retirement accounts to pay for pensions and Obamacare.
Tell your friends about Ms. Malkin’s website — this is one of the absolutely best places to get the truth about the corrupt administration and Congress. If not for Ms. Malkin and her writer/contributors, I would not be aware of what these progressives are up to. Just reading the comments posted by other readers is educational, and a lot of the posters are witty and funny, as well.
Great comment here:
Flyoverman #25:
Take away the safety net and watch how careful a wire walker gets.