The New Pinch from Pensions
Companies must pour billions into retiree plans after betting on stocks

Amid the wreckage of the worst bear market in at least three decades, hemorrhaging corporate pension plans are rapidly becoming Wall Street's biggest new worry. They have lost hundreds of billions of dollars, and now companies face the end of their long- running holiday from writing checks to the plans. Over the next 18 months or so, companies ranging from General Motors to United Technologies face having to pump billions into their plans to comply with federal laws to protect pensioners.
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thanks to Ethel the Blog

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The Little Guy Takes It On The Chin -- And In The Wallet
bt Arianna Huffington

While visiting friends in Aspen last week, I had a close encounter of the disgraced CEO kind: I spotted Kenny Lay, garbed in a spiffy jogging suit, getting in a little morning cardio not far from one of the two multimillion dollar vacation homes he keeps there. I guess that second-hand shop his wife opened to sell off some of their booty has been doing brisk business.

Truth be told, such scoundrel sightings are not as unusual as they should be. Despite the well-deserved roasting they’re currently getting over the media spit, many of the most notorious boardroom bad guys are continuing to live the high-life to which they became accustomed while plundering their companies' coffers.

Even Adelphia's John Rigas, who was forced to do the newly-trendy EPW (Executive Perp Walk) following his arrest, had enough spare change on hand to cover his $10 million bail -- and was back home in plenty of time for a nice family dinner with his indicted sons. You know what they say: the family that eats together, cheats together.

The victims of corporate pillage, meanwhile, are not having it so easy. Faced with scrambled nest eggs, sinking pension plans, shaky health coverage and a gloomy job market, record numbers of average Americans are taking it on the chin -- and in the wallet.
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thanks to Tom Tomorrow @ This Modern World
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Politics Cleared Way for Financial Scandals
by Molly Ivins

And while we are on the subject of what is beyond parody, the aforementioned Wall Street Journal deserves a special salute for its editorial of May 16 encouraging American companies to move to Bermuda on the grounds that it is patriotic to avoid paying taxes.

I'm not making this up: "Why it's patriotic to avoid paying high tax rates" is the subhead of the touching essay on why American corporations, which are already paying less in taxes than the janitors who clean their floors, should flee off- shore. We've often heard that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, but don't you think that's carrying it a little far?

Hard to know whether to laugh, cry or throw up.
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