More Pension Defaults For The PBGC Would Clearly Be Negative

What, me worry? AP (07.21.05):

"Any more moves by companies to dump troubled pension plans on the financially strapped agency that insures them for working men and women would be troubling but shouldn't threaten the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday." Greenspan Concerned About Pressures on Agency That Insures Pension Plans

Troubling, but business as usual. Ahhhh, yes. A familiar refrain? Notwithstanding this is painfully obvious to all but the dullest of us, Mr. Greenspan sagely made the following observation: "An additional pension burden for the PBGC 'clearly is negative,' Greenspan told Bunning. 'I think it is a worrisome thing for American taxpayers, needless to say.'" Although Greenspan didn't mention anything about how these problems might impact the financial health of the workers and retirees covered by these plans, he "didn't foresee the pension system's financial problems threatening the health of the economy - at this point." Get it? At this point? How about at this point: September, 2003, the PBGC was estimating "that the total underfunding in the single-employer defined benefit system exceeded $400 billion as of December 31, 2002, the largest number ever recorded." The Washington Post has a little graph to help us put this in perspective: