https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/feds-take-over-pensions-for-sears-kmart-workers
15 replies (most recent on top)
@2ybs I doubt you've ever talked to anyone at the PBGC besides the call center reps they employ specifically to talk to the general public. Guess what, genius, those are not the people performing financial analysis and managing billions of dollars.
Big debt that was dragging the company down goes away. Nice job .
Ever talk to them ? It's like talking to a screen reader at the IRS . Nice try cheerleader .
I'm sure your 30-second attempt at math is much more valid and meaningful than what the PBGC's professional analysts have come up with.
2.4 billion is fantastic . Liability is how much? Like 5 billion?
And the value of the assets? Maybe valued by the ones who held them?
Wrong again. https://www.pbgc.gov/news/press/releases/pr18-08
"The Single-Employer Program had assets of $109.9 billion and liabilities of $107.5 billion as of September 30, 2018. The positive net position of $2.4 billion reflects an improvement of $13.4 billion during FY 2018."
That is the part of the PBGC that is handling Sears. The Multiemployer program, which handles unions' pension plans, is accounted for separately and is the only part considered at risk.
Uh xwb the PBGC is running out of money and reports that it has a 90% chance of running out of money in 6 years.
The ring fence is effectively gone at this point. The total value of the properties still contained within it is probably less than the administrative costs for PBGC to litigate the issue and take title to them.
Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone . What might be a surprise is the value of the ring fence to the PBGC . There could be some real dogs fenced in their kennel
https://www.pbgc.gov/news/press/releases/pr19-01
https://www.pbgc.gov/Sears-QA
"PBGC covers Sears’ two pension plans under its Single-Employer Insurance Program. Benefit accruals under the plans have been frozen since 2005. PBGC expects that its guarantees will cover the vast majority of pension benefits earned under these plans."
"Termination of the Sears pension plans [and the PBGC taking them over] will not have a significant effect on PBGC's financial statements because the claim was previously included in the agency's fiscal year 2017 and 2018 financial statements, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
@dwt - Yes, Eddie has made that claim. Funny though, he has never made that claim about the billions of dollars he wasted on his ill-considered stock buyback scheme.
@xwb - You are absolutely correct! This statement is from the PBGC web site.
"PBGC receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed by insurance premiums set by Congress and paid by sponsors of defined benefit plans, investment income, assets from pension plans trusteed by PBGC, and recoveries from the companies formerly responsible for the plans."
Didn't Eddie at one point claim the pensions were helping to kill the company?
This was the least surprising part of the entire BK, and I’m surprised PBGC waited this long. As a minor quibble, the taxpayer is not on the hook for this. PBGC currently is self funding and has enough funds to cover obligations for years to come. The only way the taxpayer would be on the hook is if PBGC runs out of money and needs a bailout. So few employers offer pensions at this point that that isn’t very likely.
Mr. E has low friends in high places