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Friday, July 30, 2010

The Union Bailout is flying under the radar-don't take your eye off it!

Democrats in Congress are still looking at the possibility of pushing through a $165 billion bailout for the unions. Named the Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act (S. 3157) it will not create jobs, but only save the union pension funds that were mismanaged and bankrupt by a poorly designed system. The bill is designed to bailout unions’ underfunded pension funds by transferring the liability of those funds onto the backs of the taxpayers.

At the heart of the union pension problem are companies that, in many cases, agreed to put retirement money for union workers into “multi-employer plans” but have since gone out of business. As the unionized workers in multi-employer plans are still entitled to a pension, the remaining employers are left funding the pensions of workers who, in many cases, they never employed.

Over the past few decades, as more and more unionized companies have gone out of business, this ponzi-scheme has only grown, leaving many union pensions severely underfunded—an estimated $165 billion underfunded. Now, with so many plans in critical status, many companies that remain in union multi-employer plans are facing an insurmountable burden that may eventually drive many of them out of business.

So because in most cases unions have run businesses into the ground and union bosses have soaked the regular working guy, receiving all the benefit and leaving nothing, now it is up to the American taxpayer to fix it. While it is unfortunate that there will likely be retired union workers left with nothing if this bailout (or one like it) doesn't take place, keep this in mind.....what happens to a retiree of a non-union company when that company goes out of business. If they have a pension, either that money was truly kept in a "lockbox" account and is safe or that retiree gets bupkus. That the way life works. Sometimes life sucks. Moreover it is not the problem of me to take care of you. Who is going to take care of me?

Of course the truth of the matter is Dems are eying this bill as a way to keep the dolla bill flowing in from the unions to their campaigns. Without those greenbacks how would they finance their need? Indeed, at Netroots Nation, a progressive blogger event, they held a seminar entitled "The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever" where the main topic was Employee Free Choice Act and how that will secure the unions place (and therefore the Democrats) now and into the future.
"Modernizing the nation’s labor law is critical to expanding union membership—which in turn, will ensure conservatives become a permanent minority, as newly-empowered workers actively engage in political action and demand a new way of doing the nation’s business, like creating an economy that rewards Main Street and not just Wall Street. The freedom to form unions and bargain is critical to the progressive movement—when workers have the tools they need to build a better life, they have the power to improve their communities and the solidarity to make progressive political change throughout the nation."

In other words, the Left has been relying on EFCA in order to have one-party rule in America permanently. The problem is, EFCA has been temporarily stalled and now the train-wreck of union pensions is barreling down on the Democrats. In order to save the Democratic Party, they must save the unions (or more specifically, the unionized companies) from failing.
With EFCA stalling right now, the unions have no time to waste. Those pensions, they are a dwindling and they need saving pronto.

Don't take your eye off the ball. With all the talk of racism and Tea Party and all things distracting, these are the issue we cannot forget.

1 comment:

  1. actually -- I think your point about a private company is not quite accurate, at least for ones of certain sizes -- as usual, there is a government agency that distorts free market forces and reinforces bad decisions and irresponsibility -- the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (see how they give it that nice faux capitalistic name). Supposedly it is not funded by tax dollars www.pbgc.gov but who the heck knows...?

    cathy in stl

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