Most impressed with Bush I've ever been

[penchief]

I have to hand it to George. His about face (flip-flop?) concerning corporate America renegging on their pension responsibilities really did my heart some good. I honestly hope he means it and he isn't just holding true to his tendency to say something to gain public support and really not mean it. After all, he did sit back for the past five years while corporate America, as a whole, took the opportunity presented itself to rid itself of it's responsibilties to it's pensioners like no other time in history.

Is it just another PR ploy or is the White House and corporate America actually ready to concede something in order to salvage what is left of any faith that working-class America might have in their motives?

Let's face it. George Bush taking corporate America to task for screwing America's workers is akin to Dick Cheney chastising Haliburton for building an oil rig.

I hope he proves my skepticism wrong.

[recxjake]

He better be forreal, my dad has worked for GMAC for 35 years, if he looses his pension and healthcare due to GM I will lead a crusade! I am more optomistic about GM's future though, they have so many great cars coming out next year, they finally reached a healthcare deal w/ the unions and are now starting to close plants that arent needed... It's a start... Everyone go buy a new GM car.... I recommend the Chevy HHR for under 20,000....... the Pontiac solstice for a sporty car under 20,000, the H3 for a cool suv...... don't buy a large SUV or Truck untill Janurary because the new line comes out... WOW is all i have to say! go check out gminsidenews.com for pics of them!

about Bush, he knows that a country w/out pensions would be a complete disaster..... he has to fix them

[penchief]

He better be forreal, my dad has worked for GMAC for 35 years, if he looses his pension and healthcare due to GM I will lead a crusade! I am more optomistic about GM's future though, they have so many great cars coming out next year, they finally reached a healthcare deal w/ the unions and are now starting to close plants that arent needed... It's a start... Everyone go buy a new GM car.... I recommend the Chevy HHR for under 20,000....... the Pontiac solstice for a sporty car under 20,000, the H3 for a cool suv...... don't buy a large SUV or Truck untill Janurary because the new line comes out... WOW is all i have to say! go check out gminsidenews.com for pics of them!

about Bush, he knows that a country w/out pensions would be a complete disaster..... he has to fix them

Something we agree on. I hope it all works out.

[Boyceofsummer]

He better be forreal, my dad has worked for GMAC for 35 years, if he looses his pension and healthcare due to GM I will lead a crusade! I am more optomistic about GM's future though, they have so many great cars coming out next year, they finally reached a healthcare deal w/ the unions and are now starting to close plants that arent needed... It's a start... Everyone go buy a new GM car.... I recommend the Chevy HHR for under 20,000....... the Pontiac solstice for a sporty car under 20,000, the H3 for a cool suv...... don't buy a large SUV or Truck untill Janurary because the new line comes out... WOW is all i have to say! go check out gminsidenews.com for pics of them!

about Bush, he knows that a country w/out pensions would be a complete disaster..... he has to fix them

Go crazy Cochise!

On a side note: Worrying about your (see Cochise, I get it) dads pension and voting Republican is suicide. But maybe you can handle your inner demons.

[recxjake]

actually I'm more worried about his 401k... GM stock is WAY down.....I'm gonna have to be a bigtime lawyer to bail his a$$ his out!

[CRONUS]

...
I hope he proves my skepticism wrong.I agree, course the congress has to also do the right thing, color me skeptical.

[Rausch]

Bush is completely FOS.

No, I don't think he lied.

Yes, I do think he's guilty of tough talk and no action.

We have no Ossama, we have no end to the war in Iraq, and we have abso-****ling-lutely no more homeland defense than the day that department was created...

[Ugly Duck]

BushCo also took away one of our smaks against them today. We libs claimed that they had no plan to secure the peace in Iraq, they claimed that they do. Today they proved us wrong and spelled it out. They'll just put out a billion dollar contract to have someone else figure out what the plan should be. We were wrong - their plan is to buy a plan.

[Amnorix]

The traditional pension plan that the big manufacturing companies have traditionally employed is slowly but surely going the way of the dodo.

More and more companies are trying to avoid these obligations by throwing them onto the, err, PBGC (federal agency that guarantees pensions). Whether this continues or not, I dunno, but I can say that I"m pretty confident that within 50 years, not a single company will have the guaranteed fixed pension benefit that many of our grandfathers and fathers had.

Not saying this is good or bad. Just the way it is in today's economic environment.

[Cochise]

What is this about? I'm not familiar with the story. No linky.

[mlyonsd]

The traditional pension plan that the big manufacturing companies have traditionally employed is slowly but surely going the way of the dodo.

More and more companies are trying to avoid these obligations by throwing them onto the, err, PBGC (federal agency that guarantees pensions). Whether this continues or not, I dunno, but I can say that I"m pretty confident that within 50 years, not a single company will have the guaranteed fixed pension benefit that many of our grandfathers and fathers had.

Not saying this is good or bad. Just the way it is in today's economic environment.

Nailed right on the head.

Companies in the US can't afford the traditional compensation packages we grew up with. The downward cyclical spiral caused by the global market place that force prices down also takes a toll on what compensation an American company can pass along to it's employees.

Unless you're in upper management of course.

Want a cheap radio? Your money is being used for a Chinese worker's pension, not anyone over here.

[recxjake]

The traditional pension plan that the big manufacturing companies have traditionally employed is slowly but surely going the way of the dodo.

More and more companies are trying to avoid these obligations by throwing them onto the, err, PBGC (federal agency that guarantees pensions). Whether this continues or not, I dunno, but I can say that I"m pretty confident that within 50 years, not a single company will have the guaranteed fixed pension benefit that many of our grandfathers and fathers had.

Not saying this is good or bad. Just the way it is in today's economic environment.

the yea PBGC... the federal agency that guarentees pensions has a cutoff at around 2,300 a month.... my uncle... a pilot for United was supposed to get about 45000 a month... not any more.... We ned pension reform badly

[Pittsie]

the yea PBGC... the federal agency that guarentees pensions has a cutoff at around 2,300 a month.... my uncle... a pilot for United was supposed to get about 45000 a month... not any more.... We ned pension reform badly

Let's hope your uncle can leverage his customer service skills learned through those "thanks for flying United" speeches into a successful 2nd career as a Wal-Mart greeter. In all seriousness, though, I feel for his and your father's situation.

Apparently the PBGC is pretty seriously in the hole, like negative $24B.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P119362.asp

[irishjayhawk]

Bush is completely FOS.

No, I don't think he lied.

Yes, I do think he's guilty of tough talk and no action.

We have no Ossama, we have no end to the war in Iraq, and we have abso-****ling-lutely no more homeland defense than the day that department was created...
I mirror your sentiments.

Moreover, he keeps pushing off this deadline. Making implications like only pussies make deadlines or timetables and no one ever follows them. That said, coming up with a simple time table would work wonders for people's confidence.