We now have a situation where your company can screw you over, denying you or dramatically reducing the pension you worked for years to provide for your income in your waning years, all the while the unprofitable company languishes in bankruptcy protection and is propped up by the taxpayer with bailout after bailout.Meanwhile, individuals no longer have bankruptcy protection, while corporations can still discharge liability for the pensions they owe their employees, with no penalty.Oh, by the way- God forbid the employees and pensioners have any credit card debt. Unlike United Airlines, they will not be treated with kid gloves in bankruptcy court. Is this compassionate conservatism? I just heard Rush Limbaugh state the pensioners were to blame because they should have known pensions are risky.
While the Bankruptcy Bill was steamrolling through Congress, Dick Durbin offered an amendment that would've "protect[ed] employees and retirees from the common corporate practice of discharging liability for retirement plans, retained earnings and matching funds when businesses file Chapter 11." This is really, if you think about it, quite amazing. The Bankruptcy Bill made it harder for individuals to declare and survive bankruptcy. Durbin offered an amendment that would've forced corporations, when they were declaring bankruptcy, to fulfill their stated financial obligations to their employees. These financial obligations are retirement plans, matching funds, and so forth. They are, in other words, the exact same long-term assets that are supposed to keep hard-working Americans out of bankruptcy court!How's that for irony? Your employeer take your pension, and possibly forces you into bankruptcy where your long-term assets are no longer protected.
Our very own Senator Durbin tried to protect your pension, but, predictably, it failed, because you can't afford to pay lobbyists like United Airlines or MBNA. Too bad.
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