task0778
Diamond Member
Did you know: One provision in the $1.9 trillion legislation that’s recently passed in the Senate is the $86 billion bailout for failing pensions. As The New York Times reports, taxpayer money is going towards problems that existed prior to the pandemic.
Tucked inside the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that cleared the Senate on Saturday is an $86 billion aid package that has nothing to do with the pandemic.
Rather, the $86 billion is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income.
The bailout targets multiemployer pension plans, which bring groups of companies together with a union to provide guaranteed benefits. All told, about 1,400 of the plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, often in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. As the work force ages, an alarming number of the plans are running out of money. The trend predated the pandemic and is a result of fading unions, serial bankruptcies and the misplaced hope that investment income would foot most of the bill so that employers and workers wouldn’t have to. (NYT)
www.nytimes.com
What's even more appalling? "The provision does not require the plans to pay back the bailout, freeze accruals or to end the practices that led to their current distress, which means their troubles could recur. Nor does it explain what will happen when the taxpayer money runs out 30 years from now."
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Washington spending $86 billion to bail out *private* pensions is a strong indicator of how Congress will respond to the SocSec & Medicare trust funds hitting zero - no reforms, just permanent bailouts. That's how you get $100 trillion in 30-year deficits.
townhall.com
I did not realize this was in that bill. Payola strike again, nothing like having an entire political party behind you. Did the GOP try to stop this? Don't know, they should have at least tried.
Tucked inside the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that cleared the Senate on Saturday is an $86 billion aid package that has nothing to do with the pandemic.
Rather, the $86 billion is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income.
The bailout targets multiemployer pension plans, which bring groups of companies together with a union to provide guaranteed benefits. All told, about 1,400 of the plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, often in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. As the work force ages, an alarming number of the plans are running out of money. The trend predated the pandemic and is a result of fading unions, serial bankruptcies and the misplaced hope that investment income would foot most of the bill so that employers and workers wouldn’t have to. (NYT)
Rescue Package Includes $86 Billion Bailout for Failing Pensions (Published 2021)
Democrats pushed through a big aid measure for multiemployer pensions whose problems predate the pandemic.
What's even more appalling? "The provision does not require the plans to pay back the bailout, freeze accruals or to end the practices that led to their current distress, which means their troubles could recur. Nor does it explain what will happen when the taxpayer money runs out 30 years from now."
.
.
Washington spending $86 billion to bail out *private* pensions is a strong indicator of how Congress will respond to the SocSec & Medicare trust funds hitting zero - no reforms, just permanent bailouts. That's how you get $100 trillion in 30-year deficits.
The ‘Massive Scandal’ Buried in Covid 'Relief' Bill
Republicans warned that only a small percentage of the American Rescue Plan was actually going toward Covid-19 relief, and that the rest is filled with pork, far-left policies, and bailouts—hence
I did not realize this was in that bill. Payola strike again, nothing like having an entire political party behind you. Did the GOP try to stop this? Don't know, they should have at least tried.
