Reich on POTUS and the PBGC

Pigs fly! Hell freezes over! Actually, not, but an even more remarkable event did occur: Robert Reich found something nice to say about George Bush. He begins as follows:

The President�s approval ratings are so low I thought I�d find something to compliment him on. It took a bit of a search, but here it is. Congress is debating what to do about corporate pension plans. The President wants a law that forces companies to fully fund their pension obligations to their employees. He�s right.

Corporate pension plans don�t have nearly enough money to pay what the companies have promised their workers. We�re talking big money here -- a shortfall of over $450 billion. And if companies can�t pay up, you know who�s left holding the bag? Not only 44 million Americans who won�t get the monthly pension payments they were promised. You and I and every other taxpayer will also be on the hook.

You see, there�s a government agency called the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation that�s supposed to insure most of these promises. But the PBGC itself is already deep in the red, to the tune of almost $30 billion.

Read the rest here.