Replies to post #403824 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[ogm]

Per CNBC the reported underfunded liability grew from 35 bil in 2002 to 95 bil in 2004. About 1100 corporations arcoss all industries.

Supposedly corporate America is sitting on record levels of cash, dividend yields are below any historic lows and pension plans underfunded. Gee, I wonder what should they do with their cash.
Bid up their stocks with stock buyback programs, and whats left distribute as executive bonuses for great stock price performace ? :)

I think the bear market swill correct this perverted crooked economy and psychology. There will be some point you won't suck people into buying stocks, unless they will pay good dividend.

[ogm]

More companies freeze pensions, study says

Associated Press
Jun. 23, 2005 12:00 AM

NEW YORK - Big employers sharply accelerated freezes and terminations of pension plans last year, steering away from the increasing expense and uncertainty of paying for workers' retirement, a new study says.

About 11 percent of the big companies offering traditional pensions terminated their plans or froze accrual of new benefits to workers, according to a study by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide, released Wednesday. That is up from 2003, when 7 percent of the nation's 1,000 largest companies capped pension plans.

That trend, long in the making, has continued into this year, most notably with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines defaulting on its severely underfunded pension plans. Whether it continues could hinge on how lawmakers resolve a number of difficult questions swirling around pensions, experts say.
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About half of the companies that froze pension accruals or terminated plans last year are financially troubled businesses, the study found.

But even many healthy companies are rethinking pensions, partly because of the uncertain legal status of some pension plans.

Many companies that, for years, were able to get by making minimal contributions to their pension plans are now faced with massive increases in required payments. Congress is debating whether to jack up the premiums companies pay the federal government to insure their pension plans. That could lead even more companies to abandon pensions.
......

More second homes for babyboomers !