Doing the Right Thing - Difficult for Some Companies

There's been a lot of media coverage lately about several of America's largest and oldest corporations being unable to continue to pay the pensions of their retirees. Pensions are truly a relic of the industrial age, created to protect loyal employees who had dedicated their life's work to a company. It was a way for employees to feel invested in their company. It paid to be loyal.

Most companies no longer have pensions. They have been replaced with a variety of other "retirement vehicles."

I find it odd, however, that one of the companies complaining the loudest about their inability to pay retirees, is spending billions of dollars on televison advertising. While watching the Olympics yesterday, I was stunned at the number of ads this company was running.

Today, most employees participate in 401(k) plans. This can be a great way to save for retirement, unless you work for a company like Enron, or WorldCom, or any of the other companies that overinflated profits and robbed their employees of their futures.

Shame. Shame on the executives who build $30 million vacation homes while their retirees are forced to return to work because their 401(k) plans are worthless.

Shame on the automobile industry for claiming they can't afford to pay out pensions, while spending billions of dollars on advertising.