Let me ask you a question. Would you take financial advice from a company that was running a $23 billion deficit? Well, in Washington that's essentially what's going on.
The tentative deal was a product of months of slow-moving talks between the House and Senate. It would impose stricter funding rules on companies that fall behind in contributions to defined-benefit pension plans, which are important source of retirement income for 44 million people in the United States.
Maybe I'm a cynic, but most of the government programs I'm aware of are seriously underfunded themselves. Hmmmm....
Here are some "highlights".
“I think everything’s resolved, pending getting the exact wording,” Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Wednesday.
Whew. I'm glad it's only the exact wording we're talking about.
Congress has tried to bring more discipline into a single-employer pension system that is underfunded by an estimated $450 billion. At the same time, lawmakers do not want to drive companies to declare bankruptcy and dump their future obligations on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures such plans.
Passing the buck. I thought that was the American way?
The deal was expected to give specific relief to airline companies that are on the verge of defaulting and unloading their plans on the agency, which is running a $22.8 billion deficit. These airlines would get more time to put their pension plans on a sound footing.
Boy is that the pot calling the kettle black.
Among the issues were how to determine when a company is “at risk” of underfunding its pension plan, triggering a process where the company must increase its contributions until the plan is fully funded.
Well, there's more to come, but for now, your dad's pension is safe. I think.
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