I have a question.....What happens in a few years when the Butch Lewis Act gets passed? Union-held defined-benefit pensions get restored back to the ...premier retirement vehicle the used to be,.....
Can they be used,..once again,..as a "recruitment tool" for organizing non-Unions? Will defined-contribution 401(K)'s,....having gone through several up and down cycles,..which are endemic to those type of ..."investments"....pale in comparison to...defined- benefit funds?
Will working people start to....clamor,....for the same type of pension that Congress, the Public Employee sector,...teachers,....Municipal and State employees ...have?
Having watched their....."portfolio".....yo-yo up and down,.....and all the Solons and Sages can say is: "Don't Panic!"......do you think that....once defined-benefit, Union-managed MEPFs are....stabilized, through the Butch Lewis Act,.....private employees will,.....once again,....start to hunger for a pension that offers stability and longevity,.....as opposed to the vagaries of the stock market?
A "Time and Longevity" based pension,....instead of trying to...."time"....the stock market?
Brother, this part sounds like the pension funds where gaming the system? Somewhat like people who game the welfare system or people game social security disability insurance in order to get around the rules. I'm not sure how ethical that is?
"Gaming" the system....is breaking the Rules......like those examples you gave.....People who try to "game" welfare or disability,...are Breaking the Law...
The ERISA rules were WRITTEN and DESIGNED to force Union-held Funds to come up with "solutions" to keep from being ...penalized. It was completely O.K. with Congress and Wall Street Lobbyists, if Union Funds spent money they ...would've held for emergencies.....
In fact,....THAT was the outcome that was....EXPECTED...
They DID NOT want MEPFs to have a......."reserve"...in case of an economic recession......Originally ,...That was why they created PBGI....an "insurance" fund...Government-backed,....so that MEPFs did NOT have to keep money in reserve....
Once those..."rules"...are in place,.....and once you DE-FUND the insurance plan that would BACK UP any Fund failure......
......all you need to do,...is engineer an economic collapse,...like 2008,.....to put funds into Dire Straits...
to create that..."perfect storm"...for MEPFs
Starting to....."smell a Rat?"......
Think Congress will.....vote to fully fund Pension Benefit Guarantee Insurance?