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Home Front: Politix
Payday For Unions
2009-08-27
If there's any question as to why union toughs turned up at recent health care town halls and got violent, consider what they were gooning for: a $10 billion bailout for their mismanaged pensions -- at our expense.

Buried on page 65 of the 1,017 pages of HR 3200, and in a Senate bill as well, stands a $10 billion entitlement to keep pensions for unions like United Auto Workers as shiny and gold-plated as the day Detroit executives signed off on them.
Buried on page 65 of the 1,017 pages of HR 3200, the House's health care reform bill, and in a Senate bill as well, stands a $10 billion entitlement to keep pensions for unions like United Auto Workers as shiny and gold-plated as the day Detroit executives signed off on them.

Steelworkers, municipal employees, teachers and other union retirees will benefit from what the bills call "Reinsurance Programs for Retirees." The $10 billion cash infusion is intended to refinance Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations (VEBA) insurance to continue coverage for unions' early retirees in restructurings.

It's nothing but another bailout for union-bankrupted industries that can't sustain their contracts. In most of the private sector, companies cut back. They pay for what they buy. They scrimp.

Unions are different. When things get bad, they want taxpayers to pay. And they demonize corporate profits. When profits are a dirty word, one man's wealth is another man's loss, and creating value is no longer recognized as a means of earning money.

It's no surprise that bailouts are the result.
But there's a problem with all this largesse -- the poor and middle class who don't get these fat pensions end up paying for them anyway. Back in February, President Obama praised unions for their "sacrifices" in the auto bailouts. We've yet to see taxpayers praised or thanked for their "sacrifices" in bailing out unions.
Posted by:Fred

#2  California is dealing with the huge hole caused by cop pensions, equalling 90% of the highest wage earned during any 25 year period.

One-third of LA cops rake in over $125,000 per year.
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Spusort9161   2009-08-27 17:04  

#1  Kinda makes you wonder what other pork is buried in that bill.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2009-08-27 12:20  

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