Academic

CRONY BAILOUTS: Bob Casey To Put Taxpayers On Hook For Teamsters Pension Mismanagement. ?Sen. Robe?

By Glenn Reynolds

CRONY BAILOUTS: Bob Casey To Put Taxpayers On Hook For Teamsters Pension Mismanagement. “Sen. Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are pushing legislation that would commit taxpayers? dollars to bailing out the Teamsters? retirement pension fund. The financial crisis and the Great Recession may have upset your retirement plans, but that?s not reason that politically connected union thugs have to share the pain.”

But wait, there’s more: “As galling as it would be to bail out the Teamsters and their other private-sector union buddies ? whose meatheaded management of their pensions has left them with as much as $165 billion in unfunded obligations, according to Moody?s ? things would immediately get much, much worse if that precedent were used to justify a bailout of the public-sector unions, whose unfunded pension liabilities run into the trillions. (President Obama?s home state of Illinois is leading the way down the toilet when it comes to state-employee retirements. California?s pension shortfall, Vernuccio notes, is larger than the GDP of Saudi Arabia.) Casey-Pomeroy wouldn?t authorize public-sector bailouts, but it would establish an all too easily expandable template. Second, Casey-Pomeroy almost certainly would lead to a broader union bailout.”

UPDATE: Reader Joseph Dorsett writes: “I mishandled my IRA and it’s now not worth what I need to retire. Will Senator Casey help me?”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on August 17, 2010 (boomark / email).