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The Not Yet Gazette is a fictional newspaper showing one possible future. The stories in the paper reflect major demographic trends projected for Minnesota.
Broke Pension Funds Alarm Retirees
National News
When Bob Gardner retired from his machinist job after 34 years with Megabucks Corporation, he counted on his generous company pension, supplemented by Social Security and some modest savings, to support a comfortable lifestyle.
But last month, 10 years after he retired, Gardner was notified that he would no longer receive a pension check. Megabucks Corporation's pension fund ran out of money.
Megabucks declined to take responsibility for the inadequately financed pension fund, saying it was a separate operation. "We can't afford to pay these pensions," said company spokeswoman Jessica Quigley-Backstrom. "If we are required to pay for them, we will have to declare bankruptcy and put all our current employees out of work."
Megabucks is the largest and most prominent of a long string of corporations that recently have defaulted on their pension obligations. Pensioners who have lost benefits are pressuring Congress to take action, but politicians fear the political and financial costs of a pension bailout.
"We haven't had enough money to increase Social Security payments for years," said Rep. Cindy Keller (Independent Patriot-California). "Under the circumstances, it's pretty hard to justify picking up the tab for privately funded pensions." (Trends: aging, rising dependency ratio)