bigmoney

Why Health Insurers Make Lousy Villains

>> rather than sending their board members to places like Hawaii for board meetings

I'd have to run the numbers, but I suspect if this sort of opulence was returned to shareholders, it wouldn't add up to much, maybe a few pennies per share. Even plush executive bonus's spread out over millions of shares wouldnt' add up to much. Probably where the temptation to skim comes from.

Obama’s Health Insurance Plan Is No Panacea

aging demographics + very high immigration + obesity culture + unlimited demand for medical care = not going to end well.

Pension Underfunding: The Next Earnings Shock?

>> Of course, in tried fashion, nobody is willing to acknowledge the problem, and all involved parties are pushing hard to postpone judgment day.

The first rule of Pension Club is that nobody talks about Pension Club ~ Tyler Durden. Haha

I'd like to see some charts of the S&P500 that has frozen their pension. My company, one of the above listed, froze theirs a few years ago.

Another thing I would like to see is Pension total value over time / vesting. I believe the typical curve is exponential

A frozen pension means that many baby-boomers working at these S&P500 corps will have their pension frozen just as they enter the power curve of vesting. Talk about a rude awakening.

Anyway, I think its about time the public sector start taking pension haircuts like everyone else. The only government sector that should get special protection is military, because once those guys sign a contract, they cannot quit. Politicians, administrators, social workers, IRS tax collectors can easily do with less. If they don't like pension haircut, they are free to quit, and get a job in the private sector. I don't think we'd be the less for it.