For all of you fans of governmental intervention, including "Medicare For All", perhaps a moment of reflection.
Is this the organization to which you are going to give full control of your health and wealth?
Yes, this was done by private corporations. Private corporations who were supposedly operating under federal standards and regulations. And again, management gamed the system and walked off with a few million dollars for themselves.The issue is not one of deciding who is dumber, corporations or the Feds.
Au fond, as you Americans say, the crux of the matter is this: do you want your life to be managed and controlled by corporations whom you personally choose or a government chosen for you by the same people who gave the White House a case of DTs.
Aye, my enlightened and "progressive" friends, there's the rub.
7
I wonder how much money it took to buy off our political parties to achieve this mess? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer as a result of our crooked politicians and their corporate contributors. It's all a ponzi scheme and the taxpayers are the fools. These coal companies unfortunately are just the tip of the iceberg. This will cost the taxpayer (suckers) Billions when all the municipalities and cites with unfunded pensions start going under. We should stop paying our taxes until these crazy laws are fixed.
9
Complete and total hypocrisy by the Republicans.
1-They really don't care if standard pensions disappear. They stood around (with democrats help) and watched countless traditional pension plans end or drastically curtailed.
2-However when it is a group that supports them, like this report says they are happy to come in and save it.
Morally bankrupt pols. at their worst.
12
Let me count the ways that Congress, bought and paid for by big money (often polluting) industries), has made laws that widen income inequality, actively mandating the taking of money from the poor to rich. Meanwhile, the "victims", (aka suckers) rail against social security, the "left", and anyone else tryiing to build a fair economic system, and salvage an ecosystem, destroyed so the rich could "reflect" in this hall of mirrors. The pensions were a scam from the beginning. Forgive the coal miners - the brutialized become brutal. The Stockholm syndrome is the hidden social bond of corporate America and its worker victims. The rich, who drink the blood of their workers, should be put to work in coal mines. Meanwhile, we need to rename our species so that is approximates what we are - homos sapiens is a bad joke - homo vorax , or homo leviculus would at least come close.
6
I was a union member for 31 years in the airline industry Democrats abandoned us as well as the expected Republicans. They all talked the talk, but nobody walked the walk: nobody.
The coal miners caught a break, I am happy for them.
It’s pennies on the dollar for the rest of us: Democrats and Republicans alike.
6
Here we go again. Where are the so called financial professionals responsibility in all of this?
This problem has been building for decades. Fact is, it is all quantified. At least we no longer as a country allow he LBO tribe to raid pensions openly.
3
Welfare for retired coalminers. They worked in a business that underfunded their pensions, polluted the environment, routinely and wilfully violated safety regulations and then filed for bankruptcy to protect the profits of the owners.
"On Oct. 29, Murray declared bankruptcy — the eighth coal producer to do so this year." (This must be Trump making America great again. He alone, restored a thriving coal industry.) Meanwhile taxpayer liability grows.
The coal industry is the poster child for all that is wrong with American cannibal capitalism. An under-regulated economic system that promotes greed, rewards bad social and community behavior, then looks to taxpayers to clean up the mess.
As Republicans work to tear up any and all regulations protecting workers and the public, they work even harder to demonize, oppose and defund any and all social safety net programs.
Bottom line, coalminer retirees will get welfare checks, the cost added to the exploading national debt, Republicans happy to oblige...until a Democrat sits in the Oval Office.
24
Taxpayers are not only picking up the tab on pensions, but also funding the clean up once these coal mines go broke. The money made by the coal executives and owners should be clawed back to offset the envirnomental and financial mess they leave behind.
28
I think one thing is clear from this: pension fund obligations should not be unfunded liabilities. Pension obligations are a unique, critical liability a company possesses and they are offloaded because it is allowed in this country by bankruptcy law. The smart folks in Congress who talk about caring so much about growing inequality could come up with a new category for pension fund obligations. Forget "secured" or unsecured", these represent what workers were promised for their hard work. That category should then be shoved (roughly, I hope) to the front of the creditor line. Until then, Congress cares more about banks and other lenders than workers.
15
$10 BILLION in taxpayers' money to pay some private businesses' obligations to their workers? Is this what they call "capitalism"? Maybe it's time for some of that "socialism."
27
just a thought-wasn't trump supposed to revive the coal industry? at least that was his campaign promise. and murray had so many OSHA problems with poor safety-like the mine where so many miners died. one survived and he has permanent brain damage. but let's continue our push with fossil fuels.
the next problem will be with fracking towns. the hundreds in PA where farmers etc … leased their land to companies who started fracking. those that signed to have their land drilled years ago(started when cheney made the deal in secret with dept of energy and the gas companies didn't have to reveal what chemicals were being pumped into the earth)and now those wells are all dried up. so now those people get no more checks from the gas companies.
some of those areas have come up with families(those who didn't sign to lease their land)who have cancer. those that didn't lease their land and have developed cancer what happens to them? they probably have medical bills and they have no pensions.
6
Reading other comments, two of them I thought we’re right on: Why are pension obligations at the bottom of the creditor priority list in court? Perfect example of rigging for owners against workers. Another question, why aren’t these miners entitled to Social Security pensions? Since most private pensions have gone or are going away, this is a problem with finite time line.
5
@lester ostroy Social Security iseems to be on the same road to insolvancy. the route is just a bit longer.
This seems to be another of the many socialist bailouts of/ helping hands for an industry that can't cut it on its own. Congress should declare these debts as non-dischargeable in bankruptcy and require the directors and officers to be personally responsible any shortfalls. If this is done, you can bet the pension funds will be fully funded.
13
Socialism. Where is the free market? Why to we have to pay for the financial mistakes of others?
9
Congress requires the US Post Office to actually over fund their pension system, but for some reason allows private pensions to be under funded.
Of course companies are doing away from pension systems so maybe Congress figures hands off is better as even an under funded one is better than nothing.
7
@A reader Obviously no one at the USPS is funding anyone in Congress.
6
All working people need some type of financial assistance no matter which industry they are in currently, or have worked in the past. The misadventures in the “endless war in the middle east” coupled with the gouging-out/ defunding of worker pension plans (starting in the 1970’s) has caused a downturn in financial security for all wage earners (except the 0.1 percent at the top).
Perhaps it is time for a revolution & change. My recommendations: tax carried interest & dividend income at the same rate as wage income; reduce the capital expense of being the World’s Police Force (Afghan military aid for instance); rebuild the infrastructure in the USA; tax the obscene wealth of the 0.1 percent; eliminate tax deductions for mega churches. These actions would help to better the whole country.
11
Why are private industrial pensions the obligation of taxpayers. If I give money for someone to invest and they loose my money, the government doesn't come in an make me whole again, plus interest. Why are these guys special?
17
Once again Socialism for business, Capitalism for Workers. Why? Why, can a company negotiate benefits with employees and then simply bail on them. Perhaps it is because they never have to actually fund those pensions. “Suckers” the companies shout on the way out of the bankruptcy court. If you negotiate a pension, it should be safe and secure. Seems fair, eh?
17
Time to claw back some of the millions and millions that Jim Justice (net worth 1.9 billion) and other mining plutocrats have stolen from American taxpayers to pay for their workers pensions, as part of Elizabeth Warren's overall proposals to take back billions in unpaid taxes from the billionaires and multi-multi millionaires. It's revolting and immoral that both GOP and Democrat leaders pass a bill to bail out miner's pensions and put the tab on the American taxpayer instead of squarely on the backs of the employers who conned these workers. Coal is a dying industry contributing to the climate catastrophe and it's time to retrain today's remaining miners for decent and green jobs.
15
God bless American Liberals for saving these mean-spirited, conservative sheep from the slaughter house and the unregulated, sloppy, underperforming , lobbyist bought government supervision that put them there in the first place.
That's what conservatives have a history of doing for over a hundred years, paying the best minds they can find to weasel out of the obligations they owe.
14
My company changed the rules after I had been there 37 years.
The effect was to lower my pension.
5
Appalachia's senators finally get all of us to help support the coal miner's pensions. No problem--their work fueled America. Truck drivers are next. They move the goods of America. Ok. But why do all of these large corporations have to get so many tax breaks when they pay such lousy pensions except to the executives. No executive should ever get a pension unless the company pension plan for the rank and file is fully funded and pays a specified percentage of the executive pensions. No more corporate welfare.
18
700 dollars a month pays the bills? What horrific planet are the Leaches living on? I am happy that they are continuing to receive it but it seems very stingy.
14
Teepee, they are frugal people — they have to be. He retired in 1995, and these pensions are not adjusted for inflation. After nearly 25 years, they’ve lost some purchasing power. They do get Social Security, too, so that helps.
12
@teepee the median monthly income in West Virginia is $836, so a person receiving a pension of 84% of median monthly income is pretty darn good, especially when other taxpayers are shoring it up. A taxpayer bailout of underfunded pensions is no different from subsidies to the farmers who are being crushed by Trump’s trade wars. This is yet another example of Republican and Trumpist hypocrisy. While they attack progressive ideas of democrats as being “socialist,” republicans are the ones churning out legislation and policy they claim to be opposed to. These policies are socialism in action! Democrats at least fight for the same benefits for all and not just those for their constituents, who have a pre-existing condition - continued dependence on a dead industry. While the government gives handouts to former coal miners and farmers, many of us are paying more in taxes because the state income tax deduction no longer exists. When do I get my bailout
23
I never thought that buying votes could be so easy. Preach one thing, then use my tax money to do another.
5
Sounds like the cost is $75,000 per taxpayer. Seriously how can the country afford this?
1
@Jim Miller No, it’s $7000.
1
At some point, quite a while ago, the unions that were part of these multi-employer plans, should have put down their foot and done something in their negotiations to remedy (obtain replacement compensation) the fact that part of their benefits package - the pension - was mirage that was not going to materialize. Once the horse left the barn on this one, there is no getting it back...only the hope that the taxpayers will buy them a new animal.
Question: When has it ever occurred in American history, that when big business or their employees have to take a punch in the gut, that big business took it instead of the employees?
2
If I read the article correctly, Mr. Leach was 46 years old when he retired. Who the heck retires at that young age without transitioning to another job?
14
Gary L., I had to leave a lot of information out of the story for the sake of space, but I can tell you that Mr. Leach did go to work for a municipal water authority after he retired from Peabody Energy. He didn’t just retire at age 46 and take up golf.
29
We are all citizens. We haven't found the will to ensure Business pays to cleanup its messes, complete it's promises, and treat workers with respect. I think we never will and having UBI to offset the financial part is a good start.
The hypocrisy is staggering!
Rugged individualism? What are Republicans smoking?
Coal Industry Lobbyist’s money...
8
Just hope I stop hearing how these same people are opposed to socialism. What a joke!
15
I thought socialism was a no-go for the good folks of West Virginia.
15
I would hope that this act of legislative compassion will not be limited to these deserving folk but also find its way to the rust belt and other hard hit areas. then again McConnell is up for election and I am sure he is not going to let this act of compassion spread beyond his constituents
6
Congress never should have allowed multi-employer plans. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen. But unions wanted them for worker portability. I agree with others that have commented here about the need for changes to federal bankruptcy law. I would go a step further and say a claw back mechanism should be authorized that pierces the corporate veil and goes after the personal assets of company owners/shareholders. The employees and their unions that negotiated terms that were likely to kill the companies should have to bear some of the burden also.
3
What I see happening here is what I think we will see a lot more of in the future (near future?), namely, "single payer" coming in to provide a safety net resulting from the failure of capitalism (as practiced in the USA today) to provide a decent standard of living for all.
As always, we'll go on doing things the same old way until the system breaks down, and then we'll try to figure out a way to patch it up without addressing the underlying decay.
4
A better provision would have amended the bankruptcy code such that workers’ pensions are treated as secured creditors with preference. The stockholders of these private companies should be totally wiped out in a bankruptcy before one dime of taxpayer money is spent on the benefits they promised and failed to provision.
I feel for the miners individually, and do not necessarily feel this was the wrong outcome, but we should never allow it to happen again while letting stockholders skip out on the bill.
56
Matt Ivan, As I’ve said elsewhere in these comments, the pensions became an unsecured credit in bankruptcy because they’re unfunded. This pension plan is going to exhaust all its assets in just a couple more years, which is quite unusual for a plan of this size. If the benefits had been fully funded over the years, we wouldn’t be seeing this disaster.
13
@Matt Ivan
You are spot on, that is, I agree with you on bankruptcy code. Companies aren't in business to be nice, as long as they are allowed by the laws of this country to behave in this way, they will.
4
@Mary Walsh
I believe he understands that but when a company
owes a lot of money and believes they cannot pay it back and then file for bankruptcy, there is a line of entities owed money. Place in line is determined by agreements made when the company took on the debt. Then a judge decides as well. If a company is in Chapter 7, all the money it has that day (the day it files) goes to its liabilities. The pension fund of any company isnt fully funded on any given day. All we are saying is put the pension fund obligations further up in line. Companies file when they (and its a subjective call at times) perceive their liabilities far outweigh their assets. They have assets and more of those assets should be paid to pension obligations in bankruptcy.
9
I’m sick of this. I want miners to have financial security. But I want all Americans to have financial security. Why can’t we just have a social safety net like in Europe and Canada and stop pretending that businesses are willing or able to take care of rank and file workers for 80 years.
26
Socialism, anyone? As The Man said, "It all comes down to whose ox is being gored."
7
The bail out are votes like the no taxes the rich American churches don’t have to pay. The GOP know how to increase our budget deficit on welfare for the rich. Very sad. Lock them all up . Why bail the coal miners out there toxic deadly product caused globule warming and destroyed our drinking water and air.
5
Now that he has the Miner's back in his pocket who is next.
What kind of a person thinks being impeached is a plus in his life?
1
Congratulations to this new class of welfare recipients!
At what point will I and my fellow Blue State taxpayers receive our "Thank you" for bailing you out yet again?
18
Those who had their food stamps whacked are surely waiting for Santa Trumpy to make King Coal save their souls.
If this isn't enough to make the 47 percent who voted for Trumpy bail out on the republicans...
So the party of fiscal conservatism added another $10 billion to bribe its voters to return them to the public trough.
This is basically buying votes....
VietnamVet
10
Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy and the person who led the bankruptcy filing, is noted on his Wikipedia page as having made multiple personal charitable contributions in excess of $1,000,000. Just noting that while the miners he hired are scratching by on $700 or so a month, he has millions in spare cash to give away.
18
It's just so IRONIC that the people that are SO against a helping hand for people who were never afford an opportunity to get in the game aren't too proud to accept a handout for themselves.
22
Yep - I’m in Long Island and you have to know someone or be related to someone to get into a union. And the people I know in unions look down on those who don’t have connections and can’t finds ways to make a living wage.
4
@Emily I agree and am familiar with this type of situation. I'm kinda pro-union...but I don't want to pay for it. I was also referring to the recent "Farmer subsidies" during the current "trade war". Personally, I'd be far to proud to accept something like that and would choose a different profession if that were case. Everybody works hard...not just those who get their hands dirty.
I am happy for the miners whose toil made the mine OWNERS wealthy even after they declared bankruptcy and had poisoned the Appalachian waters and air. But, make no mistake as to why this legislation came to the forefront now - Mitch McConnell is up for reelection in 2020. Knott County, KY in the heart of coal country voted to elect Andy Brashear a DEMOCRAT governor last month.
15
Do not assume the election of Brasher means anything other than he replaced a widely unpopular incumbent. His election is not a sign of hope that change is coming to Kentucky.
One, as foretold, coal mining is a dying industry & occupation. Many did not want to hear this truth so voted for He Who Lies. Two, Trump lied. Now, instead of saving the industry, he will give them some sort of bailout and take credit. He’s wasted three years wallowing in his fantasies and obviously thought that a tax cut for the filthy rich was a higher priority.
And, speaking of retirement funds, this reminds of Republican hopes to privatize Social Security which I am sure lingers in the dark corners of the GOP. They drool over the thought of getting their hands on so much taxpayer money. Even with built-in safeguards, basically the same sort of great minds that engineered the miners’ pension situation would be in charge. There are things that the government does better and certainly with more concern for the welfare of its citizens.
7
We'll reap the whirlwind of moral hazard. Productivity growth and innovation has been slowing since the 70s, and yet we're still ballooning our consumption and spending patterns and entitlements. The Baby Boomers promised themselves unsustainable pensions and benefits and the bill will be paid by the young and the unborn.
5
As a boomer, I resent the suggestion that we only care or cared about ourselves. Those in power in this oligarchy own the blame here, not the masses of us who go to work every day to provide for our families. We did not create this system. The GOP is destroying the way of life promised to the masses. Any time you look for those trying to build up the masses, you will find Democrats and their programs. Any time you want to see those who oppose a community of care, you will find a Republican. So vote GOP and kiss your own well being good bye.
1
The first time? Isn't the Railroad Retirement Fund similar: funding pensions in a rapidly shrinking industry in which many employers are bankrupt, out of business or shrunken and unable to fulfill their obligations?
3
If the government will bail out underfunded company pension programs, why should the companies that created them use shareholder money to fund them?
8
Where is my free government bailout?!
14
Greed and the Cool Miner Pensions
Long ago the early prophets saw humanities path developing through time. They saw competitive greed at its core and sought to channel the egoism of greed into altruism and great religions evolved to convey empathy, care and love.
But the animal within persisted, the greed and parasitical users of others for personal gain, persisted through time.
Matthew Arnold, an English poet, captured this at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution when Religion was in decline and Science, in ascent. Here is an excerpt from that poem.
DOVER BEACH - Matthew Arnold 1867
...The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's
shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Matthew Arnold, 1867
For the complete poem please use this link:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43588/dover-beach
2
@HoodooVoodooBlood One of my favorite poems. I hadn’t considered the perspective of industrial capitalism in it. Happy holidays
Finally! the Trump admin. is finally coming around to socialism. Not such a bad potty-mouth word now right, Trump supporters?
15
As with every issue from health care to work place safety to environmental protection, people like Wilbur Ross and greed head corporate structures work to rip off employees and create legislation to essentially make the government a transfer mechanism for $ from taxpayers into their pockets. This is obviously The result of $ influence on the Congress.
The inevitable shortfalls or just plain nonfunding which flow from this hijack are borne by the majority of American taxpayers who are on the hook for both the financial and practical miseries which inevitably occur. The false philosophical premise underlying the arguments for these bogus policies is the lie of the efficiency and wonderfulness of the the “free market.”
The problem always—and more pronounced now—is the inability of the electorate to clearly see through the obfuscation and appeals to emotional canards promoted by the monied weasels which divide people. This is not news; a large number choose to vote against their best interests either because they cannot or do not want to understand how they are being manipulated.
6
Salivating with joy: the state legislatures of Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey and whatever other states promised the moon and stars to their public sector workers with scant money to pay for said promises.
5
Very interesting. I was a Honeywell employee with the company retirement plan from 1984 on into the 90s. Bankrupt Wang Computer company bought my division using Microsoft money from a settlement over a stolen patent. Wang froze the retirement plan for vested Honeywellers, and created a 401k replacement. Wang then became GTSI Inc. Etc, Etc, Etc. The Honeywell/Wang/GTSI retirement plan is now a part of Office Depot's plan. ???? Guess it will fold soon. Ho Hum, creative capitalism.
6
Just one more egregious example the the “system is fixed.”
Vote Bernie
12
I'm amazed that anyone thought it legal for a company to promise pension benefits for life and then not fund it, and treat it as unsecured debt. Those liabilities should at the very least be paid before any other creditors since banks or investors lending money to companies are in a much better position to evaluate risk and to absorb a default on the debt.
But instead of selectively bailing out pension plans with taxpayers money when those employers didn't plan for the future, the only logical solution is a national pension plan, available to everyone and guaranteed by the US government, that employers are required to pay into. Pensions would be fairly available to everyone and the risk spread across everyone in the entire country. Kind of like ... Social Security!
For those who want to privatize Social Security, this is where it would very likely end up.
17
This has been 40 years in the making. The federal government had more controls and rules on the multi employer pension system. The federal government’s oversight of these plans were not the participants fault. Regulators miss calculated effects that other laws they made straining the multi employer pension system. The Congress had oversight in the Education and Labor Committee of the single and MultiEmployer Pension fund and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and they got the Single Employer System correct. The multi employer pension system they thought they wouldn’t have to worry because of the “Last Man Standing Rule”. Congress got this so wrong and the oversight of these funds were so lax. So many issues caused this like bankrupt courts , tax laws, and Congress just kicking the can down the road. The one thing that is true is that the participants didn’t cause this collapse and the Bill passed in the House of Representatives HR 397 with Bi-partisan support 264 to 195. The Senate bill S. 2254 should be brought to the floor because it is better to use private sector investment to loan to Pension Funds. Remember these funds were started many years before anyone even new what a 401K was so to compare them is disingenuous. 10 million workers who worked hard and played by the rules shouldn’t be penalized. Thank you
Respectfully
Bernie Anderson
Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pension
Another reminder that the way to make it in this country is to move to a swing state and rake in the federal cash.
10
How dare Congress do this with taxpayer funds!!!!!!!! Hold the company responsible.
9
I feel sorry for those affected. However, I really question that the taxpayer should be liable for any pension obligations when companies walk off with millions. While some coal companies are truly bankrupt, as is pointed out bankruptcy was also used as a mechanism to get out of these pension obligations. Congress should change the bankruptcy code to forbid this. If the stockholders and other take a hit, so be it. They made a promise and if at all possible it should be kept.
9
How much do former owners of these companies have? We should be clawing back anything owned by those that made millions from these companies in their prime.
The US government has been made the fall guy for every looted company in the US. Frankly, we can't afford it.
11
Pensions: The folly of believing that economic assumptions will last for decades.
4
The board of directors and senior managers of the coal mines should liquidate their assets to repay the US taxpayers for taking enormous compensation but failing to secure pensions.
This continues the pattern of privatizing profits and socializing losses.
Executives of bankrupt coal companies remain wealthy, choosing to buy political influence instead of prudently managing their pension funds and other obligations.
My father’s pension was cut in half when his former company failed. I know many individuals whose pensions were not their for them upon retirement.
Fraudulent conveyance of assets from a bankrupt business is a crime, committed by Donald Trump serially, and this corruption is disgraceful and those responsible must pay - not the US taxpayers.
14
Universal basic income is the solution. Yang 2020!
3
Vote for Elizabeth Warren if you want future regulation to prevent this kind of corruption.
11
It is like socialism for the people who have voted against it for so long. Hmm now I get it.
We can use government money to put band aids onto the tears that occur in our fake capitalist system. Bailout some pensions here to help the coal company who mismanaged their funds, bailout farmers that suffer from trade policy, but if you did nt vote for trump, do not expect any help.
12
Sounds like a new movie with Wilbur Ross as Gordon Gecko ( tho the chin is wrong. ) Miners for Trump are simply going to conclude "He's still got our backs. " Much like the billions of your tax dollars paid to farmers during his tariff war with China he's paying off his base. And judging by a recent letter in our local paper quoting two communists and a fascist to explain why socialism is wrong, I don't think the economic fine points are going to make a fig of difference to them.
6
Profits are private and losses are public. Again!
If this were capitalism, these losses would be private. If it were socialism the profits would be public. This is just theft!
17
Excuse me but this sounds like a Gift of Public Funds!
7
Congress should not be bailing out private-sector pensions (except by means of the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation), period, and the taxpayers will rue this decision. This particular "mine" is a bottomless pit. Who knows how many trillions of dollars of pension liabliities we now will be on the hook for?
a few thoughts:
--change the law to make pension obligations, like back wages, a top payment priority for bankrupt employers;
--provide taxpayer assistance directly for persons suffering from disabling diseases (the Leach family, for example);
--reform the regulatory structure to make sure that multi-employer pension plans are actuarily sound (who is the genius who decided that they were safer than single-employer plans?)
--fiercely avoid sentimentality in treating this problem.
thanks to the Republicans, we are running a $1 trillion deficit in a time of full employment. Are we going to add to that by paying pensions that were supposed to be covered by the private sector? If we do, how many more corporate employers will game the system to escape responsibility for paying pensioners to their retirees?
5
Conservative, free-market Americans should be outraged. This is nothing but socialism! Another example of wasteful government spending in a situation where the private companies should be able to fix their own problems!
9
@Victor Republican Trumpy McConnell Socialism more exactly....
4
Socialism for coal miners and farmers only!
17
These people want the state to be on the hook for them? Isn't that socialism?
10
What’s to stop the next company to make crazy pension promises, go bankrupt, and then leave the bill to someone else?
7
No amount of government money is going to fix the failed economic and cultural state red America has become.
7
Interesting. So, miners and farmers and others who are now being bailed out by Big Government vote for anti-Big Government Republicans? I guess you have to live in a red state to qualify. Reminds me of that quote, "Tell the Government to lay off my Social Security!"
10
Anything that moves money from the rich to the poor is ok by me.
1
Capitalism 101: Privatise the profits, socialize the losses. As it is with pensions, so it is with environmental clean-up
8
But let’s privatize the post office.
1
Isn't this blatant socialism, from Republicans and trump.
11
Coal miners vote republican. Hence, this happens.
5
Yup, That's America, capitalize profits and Socialize losses.
8
These are folks who will vote against “socialism” in the next election.
9
Virtually every one of those underfunded pensions is for union members, who are paid better, have better benefits, and whose pension funds have had lax oversight by the very same politicians who collected huge campaign donation checks from said unions. Public sector unions are arguably in even worse shape. Who have politicians selected to pay for all that irresponsible largess? Private sector taxpayers who never had any of those protections and were paid less to boot. Nice racket, and i have zero sympathy.
4
The US government should not be in the business of picking "winners" and "losers". Please take a look at Andrew Yang's solution. Yes, it is very expensive, but far more equitable than doling out money to a select few, determined by politicians in Washington. His plan gives every American a chance to succeed, and no one ends up homeless or hungry.
4
Why wasn’t this priced into the price of coal?
4
@Boyd ------ It is, the problem is the huge fall off in worldwide demand for the mineral......hence the drop in corporate revenue that funded these pensions.
2
Though I firmly believe in helping these coal miners who are the victim of corporate greed, the irony is no lost on me. Are these victims not the same ones who have long opposed welfare and handouts by consistently supporting the GOP? Are these victims not the same ones who overwhelming don't believe in climate change and the outsized role their jobs play in accelerating climate change?
Taking care of our people's most vulnerable and victimized citizens is crucial. But, it is infuriating to see that the recipients of this handout are the ones who have so vehmently opposed similar handouts to others.
19
Men who work in mines; oil fields; construction amongst other have been dangerously exposed to harmful chemicals that manifested in their children’s health. The federal government must levy a tax paid by all these industries/companies and dedicated solely to cover the health care costs for these workers in addition to stricter regulations. Workers should also be made aware of their jobs health risks.
5
Here is an idea for failed pensions. Take the money out of the offshore accounts of the executives and piliticians whose management and policies failed the workers. Why should taxpayers who work in other industries have to save them from the masters they vote into controlling their own future. If the coal executives, owners, and managers dont care about their workers futures the pensions should be fixed with STATE funds where the oligarchy was allowed to run over the state’s citizens. Federal government but out. If the voters want their state run by people allied with a six-time bankrupt president, let them harvest what they have planted. We already bailout the corporations of billionaires - let the coal mining state citizens decide if they want a pension or a bad reality show. And keep it local !
10
The money that should have gone into the pension fund must have gone somewhere. Executive salaries, bonuses, stock sales, discounted coal sales, corruption and cheating.
Follow the money, get it back.
18
I have no problem with the miners getting their pensions. They worked for these benefits and are victims here. However, I would like to see some acknowledgement from the people in this part of the country that government does have a role to play, not just in making good on these pensions, but also in providing the type of industry regulation and oversight that’s needed to keep this kind of thing from happening in the first place.
17
Just how much loot have the insiders at Peabody, "investors," really raiders, like Wilbur Ross, and other capitalists protected by Congress taken from the coal companies at the expense of regular employees? And why do the millions of employees facing financial and personal disaster because of the lack or failure of effective regulation still drink the Kool-Aid being served by Republicans who somehow have convinced millions of voters that tax cuts for the rich and ending of federal regulation of industries such as coal and the pension industry somehow will benefit the little guy? Don't history and truth have any meaning to the sad folks who have been so badly duped? The next election must be a reality check rather than a litmus test. That can only be accomplished by Democrats spelling out these facts in clear, unambiguous, unemotional terms - look what is being done to the millions who have been the bulwark of building this country through the misappropriations of many of the rich. This country was built on slavery, and it continues under the guise of unregulated capitalism. Even Adam Smith taught that capitalists will steal from investors (including employees) if left unregulated. That lesson is affirmed by these circumstances.
9
The working life of a coal miner could be short and brutal. Safety was not a concern for mine owners. Black Lung is still producing sick people and the payments for the health care of those miners who have that disease are not from mine owners, but from USA taxpayers.
It is easy to be angry at those who preach "Small government" and "Free markets" except when the costs are those that should be a cost of doing business but are shifted to taxpayers.
8
Congress should also have included a requirement that the owners of those mines - who have made off with the pension funds and declared bankruptcy should personally be liable - both financially and criminally - for such grand larceny. This is a similar tale to the Superfund approach to environmental disasters created by various corporations, whose investors and CEOs made out like literal bandits while despoiling the countryside, then left the taxpayer to pick up the tab. Yet those same owners, investors and CEO's will be the first to scream "Socialism!" when a politician suggests that the costs should be born by those who are creating the mess to begin with. Yet the actual approach of government backfill is truly socialism for the rich.
20
The coal industry should be taxed to cover this. They can pass those costs on to their consumers NOW because they failed to in the past. A bailout is passing the cost to our kids because we aren’t paying taxes to cover this. Our young people already face more than $20Trillion in our debt, growing at $1T per year, and the dire situation of climate change. This is so wrong!
All the at-risk pension plans need to pass those costs to consumers NOW, we need to stop this precedent of private profits and public losses. We can’t pass this on to our young people.
11
Sadly the Unions & AFL- CIO have been silent on this issue. There are some easy fixes, in bankruptcy pensions plans should be at the head of the line, companies need to fully fund their pension plans before using funds to pay dividends, stock buybacks or executive bonuses.
18
While tragic, I fail to understand why I (as a near-retiree of 63 years with NO retirement plan despite 42 years of professional employment) I should be paying into a retirement fund for those who didn't save? This is a private industry matter, as sad and unfair as it might be. I've put money aside for my retirement. Why haven't these retirees?
25
It’s all part of our social compact scam and covers a wide range of employees: we’ll promise you a generous retirement package, sometimes including healthcare, which costs us nothing but a promise now... in exchange for underpaying you right away and for the rest of your employment.
Much of this is a legacy of the war years when there were wage and price controls in effect and many industries could not offer more in wages, so offered benefit packages to attract scarce workers instead.
Corporations, my friend, are people, too (and so are towns, cities, counties, and states) but with one magic catch: when natural people croak they are just gone... but when corporations realize they have milked all they can out of a sector of the economy and have made financial commitments to their workers they can no longer keep (or no longer want to keep), they can go “out of business” like a midtown going out of business store, only to reconstitute themselves in some new, Phoenix-like format, often stripped of their prior obligations and anything that can be sold at a rummage sale.
In a civilized world that cared about natural people above fictitious entities, workers would be paid actual living wages, they would be taxed, and some of that tax money would be committed to providing social benefits like healthcare, elder care, pensions, childcare, etc.
But that would, of course, be Communism somehow, a fate worse than death for the country club set.
12
@dmckj ------Make pension funds a secured creditor in any bankruptcy proceeding and I'll agree with you.
2
"the pension plan is treated as an unsecured creditor"
Why in the name of God is this the case? Money owed to banks and other corporations is treated as a serious obligation. Money owed to former workers is treated as something trivial.
If you had any illusions that our system isn't rigged against ordinary folks then take a look at this. It will clarify things.
97
Yet . . . How many will actually vote for a progressive? How will we pay for it indeed! We already are!
23
Here’s how the law works for single-employer pensions, ignoring the PBGC for now, for the sake of explaining this: The money in the pension fund serves as collateral for the participants. If your pension fund is fully funded, then your benefits are fully secured. No one can legally take the collateral away from you. But your pension fund is, say, 40 percent funded, then your benefits are only 40 percent secured. If your employer goes bankrupt at that point, you will be a secured creditor (at the front of the line, like a bank with a collateralized loan) for just the funded part of your benefit, in this case 40 percent. You’re unsecured for the rest, and for that portion you are likely to get just pennies on the dollar. That’s the problem here: The benefits aren’t funded properly. No one pays much attention to funding, but if their employer goes bankrupt they’re in for the shock of their lives. (I’m not trying to take a position here, just explaining why the retirees keep being unsecured creditors in bankruptcy. It’s all about funding.)
20
Another lesson about failed government oversight. People must be cared for in older age. Is this a social service or an element of socialism? Does it matter?
The union CSRS employees never paid into Social Security, after 1984 FERS replaced the CSRS and they are eligible for some Social Security. Both are eligible for Medicare.
Their health care should be covered and their monthly compensation can be rolled into a standard Social Security payment. This will put pressure on the next generation. But don’t feed money into a system which is doomed to failure. Take it over.
I agree with others. Go after the owners who filed for bankruptcy. What did they walk away with? It’s not about retribution, it’s about responsibility.
15
The fact that ANY pension - private or pubic - defaults, or denies paying out the full benefits promised, should be grounds for seizure of the profits of the companies involved to fulfill these lawful obligations. It's no different than an individual trying to escape their financial obligations by default or bankruptcy. That this has been allowed to happen numerous times since Reagan declared war on unions is proof that our economy is rigged against the working and middle class.
As a last resort, the federal government should make whole those workers who bargained in good faith and gave up short term higher wages in return for long term security. But, having paid the bill, the government needs to go after these companies and shareholders to get reimbursed. There must be consequences for reneging on these lawful promises.
American workers - and not just union members - have been paying an enormous price for American businesses reaping record profits for years without sharing that with their workers. It's not just unfair, it's economically unsustainable. But the majority of politicians in both parties have aided and abetted this theft of wealth because it benefits the donor class and Corporate America, their major benefactors. It's long past time to dismantle a system that only serves a tiny minority. Sanders is right to frame this as a revolution that needs to happen because the Powers That Be won't willingly change.
23
Privatize the profits and have the general public pay the debts. The funding for these debts should be done with an increase in capital gains taxes. Anything else is just robbing the average American.
8
So this is the right's version of the public option.
Crimson voters & pols who rail against government-run healthcare and Soc Sec (I generalize) are happy to take taxpayer handouts when their beloved free-market fails... for THEM.
Bailout money pays bills, like internet bills >>> internet + free time in retirement (while other elderly have to work) = freedom to grouse in online forums about leftist dreams of public healthcare and safety nets.
I'm fine that my tax dollars support people in various crummy situations because I have, you know, compassion. But it boils my blood to see that, dollar-for-dollar, some people receive low-quality care (let's face it, Medicare/Caid are no treat), while groups like this get superior private care that is wildly inefficient, passing through several layers of for-profit middlemen and insurance.
25
Another Trump/GOP bailout. Instead of making the people responsible for the bailout pay, the tax payers have to pay for something we don't even want. Make the billionaire owners and shareholders of these companies pay until they have nothing left.
27
Sure, I'm happy to have some of my tax dollars applied to save this pension fund -- but please don't confiscate any of Robert Murray's $14 million payout this past year -- after all, he put his former employees in this position.
29
Trump was unable to bring coal jobs back. So now, instead, we taxpayers are bailing out those that have lost their pensions.
Trump should donate his own funds to this cause.
27
Get used to it. Welching is a well-known business tactic, and one used by Trump many times. Promise to pay a certain amount for a fixed amount of work, but after the work is done don't pay up. Give them fifty cents on the dollar, if they're lucky.
These companies - and individuals - extract more than enough cash from the operation to pay what they owe, but bankruptcy laws negate that obligation without chasing down the assets taken that should have gone to the employees.
Solutions? (1) Chase down the miscreants and have them thrown in jail (good luck with that) and extract what they owe. (2) Refuse to do business with them until they pay up (ditto). (3) Only operate on a pay-as-you-go basis (that way you're only out one paycheck). (4) Impose a special tax on certain businesses dedicated to resolving the "bankruptcy business deduction".
My gut says to do (1) but in reality (3) and (4) are more likely, and retroactively imposing (4) to shore up pension benefits and health care plans. I have all the sympathy possible, but using tax money to pay those benefits amounts to stealing from me - making political donations to support people and politics I choose not to.
19
No entity - public or private - should ever agree to fund a defined benefit plan. EVER. In fact, if the feds wanted to strike a national level blow against financial failure, they would prohibit all governments and private companies from entering into a defined benefit plan. Every defined benefit plan will eventually require being bailed out by taxpayers, because no one can predict the future and future prospects of a company, city, etc. Company in single product (coal) gets overtaken by a different technology. Plan failure. City gives employees high pensions to get their loyalty while hiding the cost. Plan failure. Etc.
The city I live i will never heed this advice, so a national or state level prohibition is required.
10
@Djt
I respectfully disagree.
As an employee of a small government, I am enrolled in a retirement plan that is defined benefit.
It is also defined contribution. My employer makes regular defined payments to an independent government employee retirement system. Once they pay into it, they have met their obligation; but my pension is defined as a small percentage times years of service. I also have a 457 - a self-funded plan like a 401K.
At my pay level I won't be wealthy, but every little bit helps.
5
@Chris If they don't set aside enough money, who makes up the difference?
The definition of a defined benefit plan is that the benefits are backstopped by taxpayers. So if the plan admins invest in Bitcoin and Bitcoin collapses, you get the same amount as if they had invested in Google and the pension value went up 10 fold.
Why should we, especially taxpayers that oppose coal, pay for this? I have no quarrels with the coal miners. But, make no mistake, we are bailing out the rich owners who bankrupted the companies after walking away with millions, left the community saddled with pension and environmental clean up debts.
And we have to support this? Something is very very wrong.
83
Something is very wrong and everyone knows what it is.
“The system is fixed.”
Vote Bernie.
4
Pensions are a worthy bailout cause, but bailouts should be universal not selectively chosen. Further, corporations are doing more 401k type plans now, but legacy pension funds should be regulated to make sure contributions in the private sector are sufficient.
6
This is a situation that must be addressed quickly and completely. The issue with coal is that it is a dying industry. When Trump talked of reviving coal it showed his total lack of knowledge about that and many other economic issues. It was like saying he Trump would bring back buggies as it is out dated technology.
Murray energy was not an honest player in the situation and was only interested in putting money in his Murrays pocket.
It is time to realize we as a country must take on a major reorganization of energy and embrace a Green New Deal. This is how the USA will lead the world once again. Trying to save dying industry is a money pit that can never pay off. Trump does not have the foresight to take our country in a new direction as he has no understanding.
We Must elect a Young person as President as we need someone with the ability to see the future not try to hold on to the past.
10
The Central States Teamsters Pension Plan has been known to be bankrupt for many years.
Why has Congress (and the President) acted on only the CoalMiners pension plan and not the more severely underfunded drivers pension plan?
5
Why should any pension recipient be bailed out. The majority of Americans do not have a pension and rely on savings invested in a retirement account. Perhaps they receive a modest match. Some rely on SS alone. Government (taxpayer) funding should be invested in programs that all Americans benefit from equally. Yang for President.
14
The coal miners are by no means the first set of pensions bailed out. Railroad employee pensions are an old example
4
There's not only no end to the government regulatory decisions that let employers and owners off the hook, there's no end to blaming that on the employees.
Throughout this article, the bailout is described as a bailout, a gift, to the pensioners.
It's not.
The employers always had the responsibility to make sure the funds were there; the government let them escape that responsibility, and it is now bailing out the owners and employers.
Yes, yes, their *legal* obligations have long since been dismissed by regulators, by courts alike; but the bankruptcy laws that turn employees into just another debtor, the regulatory background that kept employers from setting aside funds every single week from each paycheque, safe in separate funds that can't be touched, that's all part of the government/investor system that protects money first, and people last.
Now it casts the robbed employees - robbed by government and employer alike, acting in concert - as charity cases. In reality, the coal companies are the real objects of public charity; it all went to the very rich, and now the getaway is complete.
20
We need to take care of these workers and their families because they invested their lives to power our electrical grids, and at significant peril to their health. We also need to claw back the generous CEO compensation packages the leadership of these coal mining companies awarded themselves to help pay for these unfunded pensions. The Murray Energy paid himself $14M to lead his company into bankruptcy and saddle the taxpayer with the pension liabilities. What's he doing today, golfing with Donald Trump?
33
If the federal excise tax on golf balls was sufficient, we could eliminate all these underfunded and bankrupt social promises but pronto.
3
So, all these so-called “capitalist” mine owners and executives, who scream and holler “socialism” when the government tries to ensure they clean up their environmental messes and provide adequately for their workers, telling the government to get off their backs and out of their businesses, actually rig things so the government not only has to clean up the toxic landscapes they leave behind, but now has to provide pensions for the workers they are deliberately leaving orphaned. And sticking the American taxpayer with the bill. How is that not socialist?
Corporate owners and executives should not get to have it both ways. They cannot privatize the assets and profits and socialize the risks and liabilities. If they want to be capitalist, fine. Then the need to do it right, and not be hypocrites. On the other hand, if their industry is mission critical to the economy but fragile or declining, then they need to accept higher levels of government oversight, so the shared risks and liabilities are dealt with pragmatically and not left to reach crisis points.
69
Why not take that $10 billion and use it to shore up Social Security? And maybe give it a bit if a bounce. Then, divert any other government pension bailouts there as well. That way ALL the people who paid the taxes benefit, not the businesses that reneged.
13
We have opened Pandora's Box. Just wait until thousands of county, city, school district etc. plans go bust as they will over the next twenty years. Will federal tax payers be obligated for those pension debacles? We will continue our deficit spending and borrow until we have condemned future generations to bankruptcy. There will be a reckoning.
26
Tax payers pickup the tab... now that's interesting because Congress has been critical of how the PRican government has handled it's debt. Imposing the PROMESA law on the inhabitants of PR. All sorts of budgetary constraints, etc. Yet there is no problem bailing out the coal miners pension... BTW I have no problem with helping the coal miners. Its just that bad governance is at the heart of both, yet the remedies are so disparate.
6
@Reuben
Puerto Ricans can't vote! There's your answer.
1
Puerto Rico was even more mismanaged than the coal company, so better not to go there.
1
@Reuben Puerto Ricans don't pay Federal taxes; in fact, it is known as a tax haven.
1
Our tax dollars, hard at work, subsiding Trump voting coal miners and farmers, the very people who are destroying the country. Merry Christmas.
70
The pension bomb approaches, and this isn't the answer. All they're doing is picking winners and losers in the great pension scam dumped on us by corporate America. Congress needs to pass a pension reform act, which would resolve this for everyone, not just bless a few lucky ones while the rest of us get nothing. There are a number of easy solutions that would fix this, but since congress has no guts and only looks out for itself and it's wealthy donors, this is what we get.
15
Yet these same miners will vote for Trump and other Republicans, because they hate socialism - except of course when it’s for them. At what point will their hypocrisy reach critical mass?
Also, will there be claw backs from the wealthy shareholders, managers and owners of these mining businesses that made promises the American taxpayers now have to keep? Of course not. Not only do they get to keep their money, but under Trump’s plan, they get to pay less taxes on it. Just wonderful.
42
@Billy Fitz If you think any of tRumps' judicial appointees is going to vote for the interests of the workers over that of the owners, I bet you still believe in the tooth fairy.
Funny.... the public is always in an uproar about paying for public school pensions - but here’s a blatant “giveaway” to the private sector and it seems ok? Sigh.
26
Taxpayer dollars will be used to bail out a fund for workers in the private sector. Democrats--this is how you LOSE independent voters. The coal miners benefiting from this government welfare are the same ones wearing the MAGA hats and chanting for school prayer, gun rights, opening up public land to more oil drilling, and the border wall.
11
Just why they get the dough-re-mi.
Trump bloviated about 80 - 100k coal miners because he believed he could get their votes, while millions of teachers are pushed out in the cold as a lost cause to Republicans.
Dillinger has it right.
@JCX But if YOU don't vote Dem (assuming that you're an Indie), who are you going to vote for? Most likely your vote will end up helping Trump.
If you want to spite us all to prove a point...that says more about you than you may care to admit.
1
Why did House Democrats vote to bail out a bunch of Trump voters? They wouldn’t do the same if the shoe were on the other foot.
4
@Brad
Congratulations on realizing the difference between Democrat and Republican politicians: Democrats care about everyone; Republicans care about their base.
3
Let’s see, what could we call this:
“Socialism”?
“Buying votes?”
“Pandering?”
14
No need to buy these votes. This is the heart of Democrat hatred.
This is, without any shred of doubt, entirely a political gift from Trump to coal states like West Virginia and Wyoming, whatever remains of this filthy, 19th century industry.
Of all things to choose spending $10billion of our tax money on; I can think of hundreds of better ways.
But, that's the power of the imperial presidency: using policy and tax dollars to promote one's political agenda.
14
And the mining companies can't meet their obligations why? And now republicans, of all people, want to fund their malfeasance with our tax dollars? Dizzy from this, gonna have to sit down.
7
Let's be honest here. The teamsters will never see the same bailout. The reason coal miners get cut a deal is because Joe Manchin and Trump get along just fine. As soon as this is done Republicans will rediscover their fiscal conservatism, even if its ruby red Ohio suffering. Elephants never forget. That's what our politics has turned into.
6
Wait - what is our national debt now? Over one trillion?
But who cares, after all we do know what a terrible business man Trump is. Let Russia pick up the slack in the future, so what if we owe them. Trump already does!
And will he bail out all other pension funds going under? Naw! Just the ones from his friends!
Oh, wait, is that why he wants to cut social security? Because rich people don't need social security anyway?
8
National debt is 23 trillion. Annual deficit over 1 trillion. This is with a so called “ greatest economy in the history of the world”.
However, stop blaming Trump and other politicians. It’s the American people. It is also the American people who will “inherit the wind”.
1
The rising national debt was only a “problem “ when Democrats were in the White House. Google “rush limbaugh national debt” and he admits it was a farce. So how do we turn this around?
2
Trump should change the bankruptcy laws to address the problem(s) while he is at it.
Unbelievable that these industries And public sector unions STILL have not transitioned to a 401K style defined contribution plan. Seems completely unfair that I (and the rest of the private sector world) will be picking up the tab for my own retirement as well as theirs through my taxes.
17
And what about millions of workers with 401(k) or 403(b) plans that aren't able to save enough, or anything at all, because of the high cost of housing, student loan debt, health problems, etc.? And the millions more that don't have any employer retirement plan at all? It's ironic and grossly unfair that the federal government has absolved itself of any responsibility to care for its citizens/constituents/taxpayers, and yet has bestowed a GIANT gift upon coal miners. I'm sure millions are asking, "What about me?"
9
So coal companies who underfund their pensions get a bailout but companies who abide by the law and adequately fund their pensions get nothing? That’s messed up y’all. A blatant ploy to garner votes...
10
Why are all these coals companies going bankrupt? Wasn’t Trump going “save coal”?
7
How typical that Trump will sign this Socialistic legislation while railing against Socialism on the campaign trail.
He is using Socialism to buy votes. When he does it it’s patriotic. When Democrats propose programs to benefit many it’s evil and will destroy the country.
22
Well, thanks Trump and GOPpers for setting such a fine example. Here in Illinois we have a giant unfunded pension liability for many of the same reasons as coal companies - kickin' that can on down the road.
Bail us out now, please, and everyone else while you're at it.
4
I’m self-employed. Is the government going to bail me out when my SEP IRA runs dry? I think not...Great that these guys will be retiring at 50 and have enough money for their mid-week rounds of golf.
9
Sounds a lot Iike the socialism Trump is always complaining about.
12
Now we need to do the same for Social Security!
8
What's the lesson here? That you can vote for the 'limited government, free market' GOP your entire life, but when your pension needs a bailout, it's big government Uncle Sugar to the rescue.
I'm SURE the taxpayers who struggle in poverty and will retire in poverty are thrilled at the prospect of bailing out these pinheads' pensions.
275
@Mary. First of all, you have no idea how the affected miners voted. Given the age of the affected retirees, many probably voted for Robert Bird, among other Democrats from West Virginia. And second, the voters from West Virginia or other affected states didn’t create the problem by themselves. They had plenty of help from voters (and their elected representatives) in states without coal or other extraction industries. The victims are just that — victims who do not deserve to be vilified because corporate management robbed them of their future retirements.
20
@Ockham9
It’s the job of the government and our “representatives” to prevent this kind of disaster.
Too often they will look the other way while the financial predators work their “magic”.
22
@Mary - that’s just a little short-sighted, considering these workers pretty much sacrificed their bodies and their lungs to extract the minerals that fueled the U.S. economy. They earned and deserved the pensions on top of social security, so that they, and for the most part their surviving spouses can have some financial comfort for the sacrifice of the miners.
8
Great! Now we’re gonna pay for the retirement of buggy whip salesman that stayed in a failing business?
5
Just another trump political move to try and save votes for corrupt trump
9
So republicans support this kind of socialism.......
17
You have got to be kidding. How about clawing back all the bonuses and salaries from the executives who let this happen. I am so sick to the death of corporate welfare, and for some of the least deserving people on earth
29
@DougK. Agree completely. And during bankruptcy, these pensions should be at the front of the line, not the back of the queue. The pensions were preexisting ahead of other liabilities that the companies took on. And if the Pension plan were at the front of the bankruptcy queue, it’s funding level would be prioritized by both the company, the credit rating organizations, and by organizations making loans to the company.
7
wheres the tea party outrage? wheres fox news outrage?
28
The one time Trump should be initiating lawsuits, he doesn't. The government needs to sue the coal companies and their executives for this money. It's absolutely unfair to single out this group for taxpayer bailout. Another example of Trump's pandering politics.
7
We need to bail out a lot more people who got left behind. If politicians had done something for coal and manufacturing workers instead of paying lip service, then we would have a different party in control now. If we want to transition to a clean energy economy, there are a lot of coal and oil and gas workers who will also be left behind. Something will have to be done for them as well. If not, you can guess who they will vote for, and there will never be a transition to anything.
... and 65% of these beneficiaries will vote for Trump again, to get "socialist" Nancy Pelosi out of power. Never mind that it was the Republicans who eased the bankruptcy laws to allow the situation to arise in the first place.
19
I'm an actuary, a pension actuary. From what I've seen, the biggest factor in plans (single employer and multi-employer) failing is the failure for those in charge to contribute the appropriate amount of money calculated by the actuary. Now sometimes this is done so a company can boost its bottom line or the union can say "look at the big benefit we've negotiated for you". That's bad decision-making.
The other reason plans fail is because the company--or industry--is declining and literally cannot afford to keep contributing. And that's where the PBGC has a role.
This also explains why so many companies have frozen or terminated their defined benefit plans and replaced them with 401k type plans. No need to do projections of mortality or future interest rates: it's pay-as-you-go. That's fine but how about more education for employees on how to invest and even why they should want to put aside money for retirement?
14
@Bob.B
The government has failed in keeping premiums for the multi employer pension funds in line with the private pension funds. Now they’re trying to get blood out of this underfunded pig. The benefits for the multi employer pension funds is $12,780 a year while the private funds are $ 67,000 and going up. Total mismanagement by Congress. Some of these Congressional Representatives aren’t even aware that they control the funding for the PBGC.
1
How are pensions legal? A private organization makes a guaranteed promise of future payment without allocating funds to pay them out?
I do sympathize with these retired miners, but it is ridiculous that taxpayers are bailing out coal companies.
Pensions should become illegal going forward.
83
@Russell Illegal? Pensions should be mandatory with mandatory funding by the companies that employ them. Take the strain off SS. Let people retire and give more jobs to young people. Let retirees sleep at night with less money in unstable markets.
49
@Russell Pensions are a form of pay for the employee's work. Often employees agree to lower wages in the present for a promise to pay the pension after retirement - also engendering loyalty to the company and a relatively stable workforce. The pensions are funded by a combination of both employee and employer contributions, and are to be placed in an investment fund such that payments can be made to those employees in the future based on the amounts contributed. The problem is not the pension system. The problem is greedy company owners and corporations, including various leveraged takeovers - who drain those funds as if they are a personal ATM. Then file bankruptcy, and say "so sorry, guess you will have to sue." I suppose the commenter also wants to declare social security and medicare illegal.
22
@Russell Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water! change the rules so that moving forward all pensions must be fully funded. Go after the owners who emerged from bankruptcy flush. To me they're just a bunch of fraudsters and I don't think they should be left with one penny.
9
Is this not Democratic Socialism that Trumpers are so scared of?
264
@Sara Just like the farmers across the Midwest that are so afraid of socialism but put their hand out gladly to take the taxpayer-funded checks due to the tariffs and trade wars.
46
@Jacquie as soon as I read this article I had the same reaction. Let’s call it welfare, the dreaded word of conservatives. Welfare handed out to conservatives is never welfare. Subsidies handed out to farmers is never welfare. But welfare handed out to oppressed minorities...kill food stamps...cut payments...make’em work for their money.
Conservatives, my foot. Socialism is so sweet when called by a different name.
22
@Sara -- No. If we'd had real Democratic Socialism, and the mind-set and legislation that go with it, none of this would have happened.
4
Trump's Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, bought up failed coal companies in the early 2000s and razed their pensions and benefits (ahem, "restructured" them). A few years on, he sold the stripped down companies for $3.4 billion. Now, he's helping to pass on the costs of those pensions to the US taxpayer. There's a reason he's called the "King of Bankruptcy". Trump and his coal-fired friends like Mitch McConnell are doing what conservatives always do: Deregulate, bankrupt, buy cheap, re-sell, stick the public with the long-term costs. Still think you live on a free market democracy?
430
@Boreal North It's known as privatizing gain and publicizing risk.
32
@Boreal North
Don't forget all the pension stripping Mitt Romney did while lining his own pockets through Bain Capital! And don't ignore the big payouts to himself made by coal mine owner Murray before declaring bankruptcy. Makes me wonder how many worker lost future pensions through Trump's bankruptcies.
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@Boreal North Follow the money, take it back
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This is just trump playing to his base. What of the rest of us who never were given a pension in the first place or the millions of others who saw their pension plans eliminated.
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@Steve That's true of course but we need a solution for everybody. For existing pension plans follow the money. Claw it back from those who "restructured" companies in order to strip their assets.
If your employer didn't offer a pension plan then you needed a union to fight for one. Organize.
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@Steve : as a native West Virginian with a number of family members that worked in the mines, this time I will have to take a deep breath, hold it, and side with the President and McConnell in supporting this action, along with the U.S. Senators from WV.
I don’t disagree with you for being frustrated for those that didn’t have pensions or saw their pensions eliminated. I have seen more than one of my pension plans eliminated over the years and have to manage my own savings towards retirement. But coal mining is an entirely different beast that is almost a slow death sentence for the young men and women that enter the mines. These people deserve protection for their hard earned benefits (entitlements if you wish).
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@Floyd
I worked construction for some 20 years and have the aftermath of its detrimental health effects to deal with. Unquestionably miners suffer, my best friend's father died from black lung working the coal mines in Pennsylvania. There are many people who are in high risk professions other than miners so why should they be singled out for "special" treatment. The truth is the mining operators to keep costs low cheated these people while they got rich. I can only imagine if they had fronted better health and safety safeguards what coal would have and should have cost. It would have spurred the renewable energy business much sooner and now we have a president that wants to artificially prolong it. This pension prop up is a bone he is throwing to the miners. My educated guess is that most of these miners and their families voted for trump and the Republicans. They only hate socialism for "the other guy". As Jack Toner noted above we need a solution for everyone not just select groups of people.
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Zero sum game. Where did the money go to and who is accountable besides the tax payer?
Public funded elections could be a solution to many of our problems caused by greed.
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Thank you for bringing this devastating crisis to the country. Our retirement benefits are hard earned money that we put away for our golden years. We have done nothing wrong yet we are being blamed for the failure of the government to oversee and regulate our pension funds. Central States Pension Fund has been under government’s control since the consent decree of 1982. And are to this day control where our investment funds go not us the retirees. The criminals on Wall Street have depleted our 20 billion dollars of our assets while our government turned a blind eye while they continued to collect their investment fees while loosing our retirement savings. This has been the most egregious injustice I’ve ever seen done to our elderly people and the Veterans of this country. Yes the Veterans make up the majority of the retirees who built this country and are now living with the fear of loosing their retirement benefits. The Congress has passed legislation in July 2019 called the Butch Lewis act(Hr397) that is not a bailout but a loan program. The Senate (S2254) has refused to act on it. We’re not asking for a handout or bailout just justice for our 30 to 40 years of hard work.
Bob Amsden,
Wisconsin/ Milwaukee Committee to Protect Pensions
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Clearly the federal government does have an important role to play in supporting the health and welfare of citizens. Suggestions that ‘big government’ is a problem are just too simplistic.
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Very small pensions and still facing insolvency. Whole towns affected. Many hundreds more private and public pension systems facing the same fate. A trillion in student loan debt. A trillion in auto debt. A trillion in credit card debt. Americans are unable to buy autos without lying about wages on docs. Please tell me how Trumps great economy will win him re-election?
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@Sydney Carton I agree. I didn't think government was supposed to pick winners and losers. At least that is what the Republicans said about renewable energy.
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Actuaries calculate that year’s cost of providing pension benefits for current and retired workers.
The cost is presented to management who react in horror to the amount required. So they either 1) manipulate the rate of return to reduce the cost or,
2) lobby the legislature/Congress to allow them to pay only a fraction now and the balance later.
The end result is the same, cumulative underfunding while keeping costs of coal, autos etc lower.
These coal miners voted for the very lawmakers that allowed this problem to exist. Why should we taxpayers pay for their complicity in creating their problems. They continue to vote for lawmakers who promise what cannot be delivered.
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Bail out! When is the govt going to give me a 401k bonus????
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More welfare for the base that rails against minorities and illegals who “take” everything. When will it stop?
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Does this mean that we taxpayers (most of whom do not have pensions) will be funding the states of NY, NJ, and IL for the many billions that are owed? I'd love to have $50-100K pension when I retire. Where's mine? Oh I forgot, I only get to pay for everyone else's retirement.
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@Sarah99
the miner's pension mentioned is 7,000 a year.
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@Denise Do they also collect Social Security?
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It’s the art of the deal at work. He needs coal country votes to win in 2020 and doesn’t care about the precedent it sets for pension rescue in declining industries or the national debt or the economy. Meanwhile Wall Street parties on.
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Just wait until states are unable to pay the promised pensions of their retirees. This along with healthcare costs will be the big issue going forward.
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Typically the people responsible for under funded pension funds are long gone from government or corporate boards by the time there is a problem.
Next time some yahoo wants your vote, get them to pledge that they will work and vote to properly fund pension plans.
Unrealistic assumptions about interest rates and return on assets are usually the slight of hand that decision makers use to cover certain knowledge that trouble lies ahead.
Given the demise of defined benefit pension plans across the country, there could be a lot of people about 30-35 years from now who will be old and poor. It is the proverbial ticking time bomb.
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We need enforced oversight and a claw back clause for people like Murray.
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Why should the government even be involved in oversight of these pension funds? This is a private agreement between an employer and its employees. Require companies to fully disclose to employees that pensions are not guaranteed and all the possible ways that they could fail to payout and, my guess is that unions would fight a lot harder for higher wages rather than future pensions. That is, unless they can count on taxpayers bailing them out.
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@Joe The reason the government is involved is because there's been so much corporate greed and theft in the past. The Penn Central or WG Grant bankruptcies kicked off the regulation in the '70s with what amounts to thievery.
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The government has oversight authority over private-sector pension funds because it insures them. It’s like the FDIC’s insurance program for bank deposits: If the FDIC notices that a bank is behaving in ways that pose a risk to the deposit-insurance program, it can move in and take over the bank. The PBGC has some powers to intervene if a single-employer pension plan is posing an unacceptable risk, but it can’t really do anything if it’s a multiemployer plan. It just has to sit there and watch the insolvency get worse and worse.
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@Joe
Corporations have all the rights of "persons," but none of the responsibilities. Although this was not the original intent of coporations, which were at first only created in special circumstances, nowadays any con-artist can start a corporation and they are now principally used as a way to protect the owners from liability.
No matter how irresponsibly they behave, granting huge benefits to the CEOs and other quarterly benefits to the investors, they can escape any obligations to the workers simply by filing for bankruptcy.
Workers have to be responsible, but not the owners of corporations. That is the deal.
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No, we are not going to respond with the same munificence. Maybe they won't be able to qualify for food stamps, and with social security and a couple of hundred dollars they should be able to get by. If not, maybe they'll be able to find a part time job.
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It makes me so sad to see such cold sentiment as this, from a country who can afford such profligacy in other areas yet will not care for its people. I’m glad I live in Canada, a compassionate country with a sensible welfare system set up by an sensible government, where we are willing to lay aside a small part of ourselves to help the weaker in the community, a sign of the true character of a Nation.
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@H - Well, they voted for Trump, and Bush, and threw everyone else under the bus. Now, it's their turn, under the bus. More tax cuts for the rich.
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A CEO of these coal companies had a strong motive to declare bankruptcy. This explains the true reason why the coal industry is really faltering; it is their flawed pension scheme. Greedy CEOs can make a quick profit by simply getting out of it.
This is only the beginning. It was housing that took down the economy a decade ago and mark my words, it will be private and public pension schemes in the very near future.
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@Richard And the people who sit on their boards are legally liable. If some brave employee covered by the plan were to sue those persons individually for bailing out on the pension fund, I guarantee their would be fewer of the cheats declaring bankruptcy.
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Isn't this "SOCIALISM"?
Please notice that Republicans believe in socialism for their own political purposes, but not for the benefit of the broader public and taxpayers of America.
Trump uses taxpayer money where clearly private industry has a responsibility. Many of the European nations like Germany, which Trump and Republicans criticize as "socialist", divide responsibility between industry and taxpayers. Industry works with unions and provides benefits that include pensions without ditching employees. Government operates an affordable national healthcare system. The US provides neither. But gives out billions to coal miners ditched by the coal industry, and billions to industrial farmers ditched by Trump's tariffs.
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@Maine Islands - Nope, it is the American style of Capitalism where we have socialized risks, while privatizing all the benefits for the rich.
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What happens when State pensions run short as well? Do they get the same “consideration” from the Feds and another chunk of borrowed funds that future generations will owe? I am not against government “help” as a principle, but I do wonder when it comes due in a big way, as tax cuts have made a big big dent in federal revenues. And I am truly irritated by the thought that though it’s my tax dollars, through a “socialist” action that will help these folks, they will thank Trump for it come 2020.
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And Trump does not pay Federal taxes so why would he care about all the borrowed money to pay this off.
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My heart goes out to the miners and others threatened with the loss of pensions they worked so hard for.
This is an excellent example of how the true costs of goods and services often are not fully accounted for. Coal was a “cheap” fuel source for so long. But now we are faced with the ugly truth: environmental destruction, black lung disease, unfounded pensions, etc.
Some people made a lot of money over a lot of years. And no doubt some still are. If the true costs were calculated and accounted for in the prices paid for coal and other fossil fuels, we would be a much greener country.
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@John: What about all the other hard workers in other industries that have lost their pensions?
Unreal double standard!
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Social Security will be the biggest problem of all, particularly since its fund has been raided to pay for unnecessary wars and military spending. Congress needs to fix this now by increasing funding, not by threatening to cut benefits.
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@Eero --It was never "raided" by anyone, excess revenue generated by the FICA levy is mandated to be invested in Treasury notes which are accounted for as part of the Federal debt....the feds spend the money as they see fit. Been that way since 1939.
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@Bob They’re saying that Social Security is in trouble, due in part to the fact that we’ve spent trillions in the Middle East, but meanwhile SS will run out by the 2030s.
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@Eero
When SS was created before robots and software, almost all wealth was generated through the work of humans. Taxing individuals to pay for the old age fund made sense. To fix the SS shortfall we need to place the same tax on the wealth created by the machines.
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There seems to be a simple change to the law that would solve many of these issues without new regulation: our pensions at the front of the secured creditor line and mandate that pensions will be topped up before any other creditor is paid in bankruptcy. Not a bank in the world will loan money until the pensions are funded fully—and that will force the issue to resolution.
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@Stuart Thank you for this comment. A classic case of the fox watching the hen house. Sadly businesses forego pension payments while the government fails to apply oversight. I was the 403 (b) administrator for a contribution defined plan for 31 years. Every payday it was solvent and members learned to make personal investment choices. Now our retirees have to pay for someone else's cheating. Socialism at its worse and the apparent fate of the country, cheat while you can and let the taxpayer clean up the mess.
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@Badgerberling The fact that retirees have to pay for someone else's cheating is not socialism.
Underfunded or failing pension funds typically come about because lawmakers - at every level of government - and corporate boards shirk their responsibility to properly fund pensions. They typically put it off, or purposely make wrong decisions about interest rates and rates of return on investments.
I can't explain why Congress chose to bail out the coal miners rather than some other group, but I suspect there are other groups in just as much in need.
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Please don’t blame socialism. This was actually capitalism at it’s worst. Socialism is being called on to fix it.
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This article is misleading in a major respect and reader comments preceding this one reflect that.
The article mentions lack of and limited government oversight, presumably referring primarily to the different actuarial and funding standards applicable to multi employer pension plans vs. single employer plans. But what the article omits is the fact that the fiduciary standards for investing plan assets are the same, in essence requiring substantial care and prohibiting conflicts of interest by those who invest and manage plan assets. Based on those standards, innumerable lawsuits by participants, the U.S. Department of Labor and others have collectively recovered huge amounts of money for the benefits of participants and beneficiaries. More fundamentally, to avoid litigation and fulfill their duties, fiduciaries— like plan trustees— commonly engage investment consultants, lawyers actuaries and others to help them meet those standards.
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This is going to happen a lot and it will include public sector employee unions too. Pension math is unforgiving and manipulated to make pensions appear better funded than they are. Risk free rates are never low enough but all are higher than reality.
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@Eric
Some public pension funds were invested in risky hedge funds, especially when hedge fund managers served on their boards. Efforts to forecast markets failed in the recession of 2008 when markets plunged. Warren Buffet has recommended that pensions should be invested in index funds but many state pension managers are reluctant to do so.
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Coal miners destroyed our air and water why should we tax payers bail them out. Arrest the coal mine owners for not thoughtfully planing a retirement plan ahead for them. Next the NFL players will want a government bail out when they retire and carelessly spent their billions in pay and benefits.
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It was a bad idea to have employers give social benefits. Now we are are noticing why. I think FDR can be blamed for freezing wages during WWII.
Federal employees get a Pension, Social Security, and a Voluntary Savings Plan. How hard would it be to start a program like that for everyone, kept in a bank outside of their employers and covering all of their employed years and employees? Start it with new people in the work and gradually everyone will be in it.
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@Bob Cook Total compensation, which often includes an employee-employer match that is rolled into a managed 401 or 403 fund, is not a “social benefit.” Likewise, bankruptcy in these cases is really just systemic theft...the money hasn’t magically vanished. It’s shifted pockets.
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Unfortunately many of these same folks who are hurting are the ones who voted for this lax regulation. Not that it makes it any less awful, but is a prime example of voting against you own self interests.
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@Colin It sounds like perfectly voting your self interest.
Get promised a pension without having to pay anything for it, then have the government take money from others to pay for what isn't there. Sounds like the perfect scam.
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Why are my tax dollars being used to bail out bankrupt pension funds? The stock market is soaring, they are not victims of an economic downturn, which suggests they were simply mismanaged or robbed by corrupt overseers.
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@Christy Not necessarily mismanaged or robbed but at least, over-promised. When negotiating a new contract with unions it has to be incredibly tempting to trade off higher wages - which immediately affect the bottom line - for future benefits.
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@Christy. "Why are my tax dollars being used to bail out bankrupt pension funds? "
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So those folks can have their pensions. The two main perpetrators of the Iraqi invasion are setting at home as we speak drawing six figure pensions from your "tax dollars" btw. You failed to mention that.
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“I prefer people whop weren’t scammed.”
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It is really sad that whole towns are relying on these pension funds while the owners of these companies have millions and were not able to visualize the future that has been coming for more than twenty years, exploiting towns and individuals by believing coal was their only hope. I really hope the government continues providing the help they need, but I also hope that in the bankruptcy cases that has been in negotiations, these coal owners also provide relief to these families.
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We are the government, and we are here to help you. Well, better late than never. The lax oversight described in this piece should be fixed as well for other pension plans, or there will be more bailouts. Time for more government regulation, not less, given what happens when we leave company owners in charge and "trust them" to do the right thing.
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@gbb
Exactly. Business loves less regulation. When less regulation creates a mess, they walk away from it. Kind of the pattern our illustrious president followed in his business dealings.
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