Article, CNN.com, November 2004
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/15/news/economy/pensions.reut/index.htm The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is the entity that insures the pensions of over 44 million workers. This federally agency recently announced that it will end this fiscal year with a debt of over $23 billion.
This figure is over twice the amount of debt incurred by the agency last year, which was then considered a record amount of debt. While the agency can't point any fingers at specific companies, it did report that its major losses came from the transportation, communication, and utilities sectors. Although these are big industries, experts claim that the major hit must have come from the struggling airline industry.
Both United Airlines and US Airways have filed for bankruptcy, and are expected to save money by downsizing or even scrapping employee pension plans. It is expected that the pension responsibilities of UAL and US Airways total approximately $6.4 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively.
