Bankrupt Pensions & Bailouts : How can Congress protect Pensioners and Taxpayers

Virtually every worker with a union-run pension plan stands to lose some or most of his promised pension. That is because the multiemployer pension system as a whole is only 43 percent funded. Over the past decades, about 1,400 multiemployer (union-run) pension plans covering 10.6 million workers promised an estimated $638 billion more in pension benefits than they set aside to pay workers. Now, the unions and employers that failed to deliver on their promises want Congress to solve their problems through taxpayer-funded bailouts of, and subsidized loans to, insolvent pension plans.

Government action is needed to protect pensioners and minimize pension losses. But is a bailout of these pension funds really the answer? And what would a bailout precedent mean for the estimated $4 trillion to $6 trillion in unfunded pension promises made by state and local governments? Rachel will talk about how government can bring needed reform to protect pensions without simply shifting the cost to taxpayers.

Recorded on October 15th, 2019

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