From Fox Business. (H/T ECM)
Excerpt:
A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds. If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.
The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.
As FOX Business Network’s Gerri Willis reported Monday, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these funds were doing well.
Although right now taxpayers could possibly be on the hook for $165 billion, the liability could essentially be unlimited because these pensions have to be paid out until the workers die.
It’s hard to say at the moment what the chances are that the bill will pass. A hearing is scheduled Thursday, which will give the public a sense of where political leaders sit on the topic, said Willis.
Just last week President Obama said there would be no more bailouts.
This is a good find from ECM – so be sure and send me your news tips, too, if you have any. I’ll give you credit.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
you make it sound like we have much of a choice in this matter. A good ole republican president created the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) in 1974 to deal with these.
If the companies with underfunded pensions fail, i.e, they simply can’t meet pension obligations or the company goes belly up, their plans are taken over by the PBGC.
What’s worse is, if history is any guide, approximately 85% of workers will still get (most of) what they were promised. The rest would take some sort of cut (mostly minor). Workers expecting huge pensions – over $54,000 a year and those that retire early typically face the biggest cuts.
So now that you know the history behind it, you can write and thank your republican leaders. They didn’t want the mega-rich that ran these companies poorly to have to suffer from the bad decisions they made…seems to be a major pattern through out history…reds mess things up terribly and start these major bailouts that put our country on the hook for ever larger amounts.
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