Defined pension benefits have been around for decades. Between the stock fall caused by 9/11 and the mortgage meltdown the returns on the pension investments have been much less than what the the defined monthly payment calculation was based on. Every pension that promised a defined benefit is at risk.
Every employer that provided or participated in a defined pension benefit plan had or has a liability now. Certainly I wasn't forced to be a union contractor. But to somehow assess those retirees drawing defined pension benefits as "suckers" is inaccurate and unfair. Most of the people that worked for me worked hard, showed up when they said they would, and did what they said they would do. Even though their unfunded pension liability cost me dearly I do not think of those fine people as "suckers".
