GM's Pension: A Ticking Time Bomb for Taxpayers?

Yahoo! ^ | 4/15/2010 | v

[BJClinton]

The threat to its pension plans has always been an issue, butit took on a new urgency when GM disclosed April 7 that its plans were underfunded by more than $27 billion, with more than half of that being owed to U.S. workers and retirees.

[BJClinton]

Woohoo! More unfunded mandates!

[goodnesswins]

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! Look under the covers of your bed....BOO...Unfunded pensions needing your $$$$

[Red Badger]

401(K) PLANS ARE doomed.........................>8^\

[Tijeras_Slim]

A Ticking Time Bomb for Taxpayers?

What the hell isn't?

[Brett66]

A ticking time bomb? It’s already blown GM up and it’s going to do it all over again until GM solves it’s union problem and the government refuses to bail them out.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

We mustn't let the UAW retirees down.

Their $100,000 salaries are not enough.

The taxpayers OWE them.

[BJClinton]

That’s what I’m thinking, the union pensions blow up and they loot our retirement accounts to pay for them. California state employees have something like half a trillion unfunded.

[rahbert]

The hell we do.

Ef them.

[Leisler]

Non union workers must be taxed to support higher paid, shorter hours, union workers and their better pensions.

Jeeshe, doesn’t anyone understand ?

[madison10]

What $100,000 “salaries?” You mean the money they earned working on the lines for 8-10 hours a day? That isn’t a “salary” and it was very seldom at $100,000 a year.

Would be overjoyed if we got back what we paid in taxes for the last 30 years. Are you under some delusion that autoworkers don’t pay taxes?

[Leisler]

No, YOU have a half billion unfunded debt....to them.

[rawhide]

What happens to GM and Chrysler pensioners if the PBGC takes over the funds? The retirees could face dramatic cuts. The PBGC promises a certain level of benefits, but $35 billion of the two automakers' promised pension benefits fall beyond the PBGC guarantees. In 2010, a single 65-year old retiree is guaranteed a maximum of $54,000 per year under the PBGC guidelines, and many GM retirees have earned benefits in excess of the PBGC limits. Last summer, the PBGC did take over the salaried pension plans belonging to GM's former subsidiary, Delphi Corp. Most of Delphi's 20,000 salaried pensioners, many of whom started out working at GM, saw their pensions cut. Thus, a termination of GM's or Chrysler's pension plans could likely result in pain for both pensioners and taxpayers

$54,000/yr retirement? I could easily live comfortably on that! But look to obamma to give them all they are eligible for!

[BJClinton]

Half trillion

[GeronL]

I just do not think taxpayers should be on the hook for this

[a fool in paradise]

When the government goes bankrupt, the first thing to do is end all legislator pension payouts.

[GeronL]

When it goes bankrupt there will be a lot of people no longer getting checks

[Red Badger]

Even with all our 401(k) and IRAs they cannot fund all the pension plans in America. Remember, the 401(k) and IRAs are invested in stocks and other financial instruments. In order to get any money out of them, they must be LIQUIDATED, that is to say SOLD OFF. Can you imagine what the stock market would do if EVERY 401(k) and IRA had to be liquidated at the same time? The sell-off would bankrupt the whole system! The value of the stocks would plummet and the wealth that you had put away for your retirement would vanish into thin air!.......................

[traditional1]

OBAMA Motors is just a front group for payoffs to the Unions that funded his election.

REAL Americans are NOT buying GM or Chrysler, but we STILL get stuck with the bills through TAXES funneled to them.

[BJClinton]

I think that’s the idea. Destroy what’s left of our free markets and make us dependent on the government.

[Red Badger]

If nobody has a job, and there are no jobs to get, how will the government get the funds to support a 300 million person welfare state? The Soviets couldn’t do it and they owned everything from dirt to diamonds. The people with wealth will leave. They will not stay and have everything they have built up taken away. Atlas Shrugged will be a prophetic novel and a bestseller soon.................