Every once in awhile the pension story is written, update:
U.S. pension peril grows with bankruptcies
In 2002, a bankrupt Bethlehem Steel stunned 100,000 workers with the news it would no longer back their pensions.
It was the biggest default in a brutal year during which companies dropped responsibility for 157 pension plans onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the little-known federal agency that insures private retirement packages.
The trend has since accelerated. Another 467 companies, including giant employers like United Airlines, have joined those who can't -- or won't -- honor pledges to retirees.
In just four years, the number of monthly checks PBGC sends to retired workers has swelled from 344,770 to 683,000, doubling annual payouts from $1.54 billion to $3.69 billion and turning the PBGC's budget from a tidy $10 billion surplus in 2000 to a $23 billion deficit last year.
The growth in PBGC obligations is under sharp attack from union leaders, who see it as an assault on Corporate America's long-standing pact with employees, and has raised alarms in Washington over who is going to pay for this.
"The bottom line here is we're talking about a taxpayer bailout," said David John, a Heritage Foundation researcher. "It's inevitable."
Executives who have steered companies through bankruptcy don't see it that way, arguing they are serving the best interests of their company.
The PBGC originally aimed to protect workers' pensions from corporate meltdowns. Thirty-two years later, it has become a tool for executives trying to ease long-term burdens on companies working to get out of bankruptcy.
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Oh boy, oil and defense industry have new competition in the "Ripoff the taxpayers" game.