What happens to my Fathers GM pension?

[sarcasmo]

Is the Government on the hook to pay for a portion of GM retiree's pension's? The let this company fail ind set is going to cost the taxpayer, I don't see any win, win situation in this mess.

[Faygo Kid]

1. George W. Bush achieved success in his presidency. He crushed this nation,

President Obama has a tougher road ahead than FDR.

[MichiganVote]

2. It will be gone. It may even be gone w/ a rescue loan.Sorry, that's just the fact of the matter.

[sarcasmo]

3. I thought the Government insured them up to a point?

[MichiganVote]

6. Here's the thing. The fund you're refering to has likely already been raided by Bush for Iraq, and

for the financial services bail out. There are going to be some nasty fiscal surprises for Obama when he takes office.

[sarcasmo]

7. Wow, thirty five years for a Pension turn 62 and the company goes bankrupt, and Bush raids the fund.

You are left with shit, looks like I may be moving back in with the folks and the wife, the new Amerika.

[MichiganVote]

10. Well we'll see but I strongly suspect that FDIC and similar funds are not where

we think they are. Afterall they've lied about everything else, why not the checkbook too?

[GrizzlyMan]

13. I'd get some specific answers from your father's union rep

People on DU sometimes have a flair for the dramatic. It may not be as bad as some have said, but that's not a guarantee. I just wouldn't take the word of some of the arm chair experts around here as gospel.

[sarcasmo]

15. I wouldn't take a union reps word at this time either. I seem to recall

a so much on the dollar guarantee was told to my Dad upon retiring

[SoCalDem]

25. The really shitty thing is that every time a union contract was negotiated during those 35 years

concessions were given in lieu of the "full raise"..concessions to "add" to the pension or retirement benefits.

GM stole some of your father's labor for 35 years and plans to give him "magic beans"

[sarcasmo]

29. No Golden Parachute and no watch.

[GrizzlyMan]

26. Regardless, I wouldn't rely on the "experts" on DU n/t

[SoCalDem]

27. Hey you... grizzly, the grouchy man-bear..

No one's claiming to be an EXPERT..

He asked a question, we are giving him links to the sources..He'll figure it out :P

[GrizzlyMan]

30. Lay off

All I was saying is not to pay much attention to hysteria addicts saying that Shit Head Bush raided his father's pension to pay for Iraq. I wasn't aware GM funds were used to pay for Iraq. Seems like a bit of a stretch.

[SoCalDem]

16. that's why I gave him the link to PBGC & their association with Delphi

(a GM subsidiary):P

[SoCalDem]

4. PBGC.. at 40cents on the dollar..no medical benefits

if he's lucky:(

[sarcasmo]

5. 2500 dollar pension would be worth, a 1000 dollars is that the right answer?

I am not looking forward to Thanksgiving.

[SoCalDem]

8. If you are lucky.. PBGC is almost (if not already broke)

http://www.pbgc.gov/media/news-archive/news-releases/2008/pr08-49.html

you can probably search their site for more info..but this article says "basic" as it pertained to Delphi, back in Sept..

[sarcasmo]

9. This country no longer makes any sense, thanks to knucklehead 43

[SoCalDem]

19. More PBGC pension news articles..many from Nov '08

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=pbgc&btnG=Search+News

[sarcasmo]

22. Trusting the Government to pay your pension every month, what a nightmare.

[SoCalDem]

23. I know..but consider the alternative

:cry:

[sarcasmo]

24. Exactly, no pension, a bigger nightmare.

[Truth2Tell]

11. It's possible

that the new Congress may revisit corporate bankruptcy laws and change the priority position of pensions before GM actually collapses.

This is admittedly a long shot - both because of timing and because we likely don't have enough pro-worker Senate Dems to get there. But it's *possible* that pension issues will be addressed in the initial Obama stimulus/bailout/jobs push.

[sarcasmo]

12. I hope they do, there are many people who rely on their GM pension to survive.

[Truth2Tell]

34. And it's not just GM

My dad relies on an airline pension to survive, and that's also at risk. And I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[csziggy]

14. It is insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. but would likely gut that

<SNIP>One of the biggest fears in Washington is how a bankruptcy filing by one or all of the auto makers would affect the federal agency that insures the retirement savings of almost 44 million Americans. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. ended 2007 with a $14 billion deficit, though that shortfall was expected to shrink to about $11 billion. Were GM to place its pension burden on PBGC, it would more than double the agency's current shortfall.

"GM has not been able to give us a straight answer about the funded status of their pension plan," said PBGC Director Charles Millard. "We can't successfully monitor the situation if they are not responsive."

Detroit's pension funds have also been hit hard as stocks -- in which they are heavily invested -- have declined. GM's own pension fund has enough money to meet obligations now, but a Deutsche Bank report estimates that given the market's recent performance, it could be under-funded by $18 billion at the end of 2008.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122670818143330019.html?mod=testMod

[sarcasmo]

18. The Wall Street Republican Journal. I would believe the Deutsche Bank report.

[iamtechus]

17. If GM fails to meet its pension obligations they will be taken over by the PBGC

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp will pay your fathers pension benefits at some reduced rate which depends on the amount they are able to squeeze out of GM and some other variables. My pension from a large bankrupt company was taken over by them and the pension payments went from about $3200 per month to about $2400 per mo.

The PBGC is a sort of quasi governmental corp. which has received no money from general tax revenues (so far). If you seriously want to find out more, go to http://pbgc.gov.

[meisje]

20. Who will back PBGC?

[SoCalDem]

28. Got a mirror? n/t

[doc03]

33. It's supposed to be backed by the Federal Government

like the FDIC although a couple years ago Bush said they didn't deserve a bailout. His attitude was many Americans don't even have pensions and why should they pay higher taxes to save someone else's pension. I worry about this myself I hope to start drawing my pension from the PBGC in 15 months. I'm starting to think I will have to keep going to 65 to retire.

[Skittles]

21. they'll join the rest of us who have no pensions

[galileoreloaded]

31. i keep telling people this, too.

[jaysunb]

32. The legacies make the problem even more difficult.

I know lots of people living pretty decent lives due to their retirement benefits...I'm glad I don't have to be a "decider" on this one. :shrug:

[drumtrip]

35. They Aren't!

It is us at the bottom that get the shaft, not the CEO's! He deserves his right giving years of service! No matter what people think of American cars, his blood, sweat and tears went in to making them!

[drumtrip]

36. People forget about it...

But we have a Joe too. Not that we should use it for a campaign. But we have Joe the mechanic, the man in the union. Joe, who depends on his job to pay the bills, not for some man in washington to go "we need to re-educate you to make you more useful in todays world" not when they can't re-educate the auto industry to comply with a new, real, world