New York Times Pension Crisis

My colleague Walter Russell Mead has also been covering the entitlements problem that pensions pose.  He has an excellent post on the current dispute over pensions at the NY Times. The Times staff is considering a strike to defend its defined benefit contribution plan—a plan that guarantees a certain yearly payment until death. These pension plans are the best of the best for workers, but as workers still retire at 65 and live longer, they are bankrupting the companies that offer them.

Thus, the Times, like many other companies, is seeking to switch over to a defined contribution plan, one that pays out a pension that is somehow related to what one actually puts into it. These plans risk reducing a worker's standard of living in retirement, as do 401k's. Mead's essay is clear in addressing the entitlement of the Times' staff, which insists on protecting its benefits even if it destroys the paper for which they work. You can read Mead's post here.

You can also read additional posts about the pension crisis here, here, here, and here.

-RB