Quote:
Originally Posted by Goofle
That works if it's natural wealth growth or maybe in the short run - the other alternative being price hiking. But essentially all that would happen is that wealth would be transferred back to those corporations who supply the goods people want and we are back to square one.
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I’d like to find some common ground
In order to simplify things I’m going to use a hypothetical
Big Air, a corporation the builds large passenger jets and was founded in Arizona in 1960 becomes became unprofitable for the first time in 2002. Big Air has guaranteed in signed written contracts to pay out pensions equal to the salary earned at 20 years with the company if they retire after 25 years and live to the age of 65. Unfortunately, in 2005, Big Air files for bankruptcy. Under the new conditions after the bankruptcy the corporation is no longer legally bound to pay out the pensions. The factory workers stop receiving their pensions and have no legal recourse. The machinery in the factories is seized and sold by the government but instead of using the assets from these sales to go toward the pensions the machinery is actually sold at sweetheart prices to another industry this time based in California and the entire program is hyped as a job saving measure and a boon to the stagnating Californian economy. However, the top five CEOs from Big Air also own controlling shares in the beneficiary industry in California now known as Cal Air. In the meantime, in the 2006 election a new governor with an aggressive jobs program is elected in Arizona. He works out a bailout deal for Big Air with large federal subsidies. The CEOs never officially lost their jobs so they are now receiving large salaries and bonuses from both Cal Air and Big Air. In 2010 the corporations are both profitable but the denied pensions still haven’t been reinstated.
I know that’s a lot to read but in your opinion what, if anything, should be done with the people who lost their pensions?