Re: Pensioners must rise against the Boss
I agree with Homer that the Duke was probably making the comment tongue in cheek, but there is a very serious issue here that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. I would think that the "scandal" of 2009, after that of the banks in 2008, will be the wholesale failure of defined benefit pension schemes. Continuation of the current priority list will result in untold hardship. Continuing the example quoted by Homer, it is quite possible that the 64 year old is in a junior positon and prospectively entitled to a pension of (say) 10k a year, while the 51 year old (more realistically, say a 59 year old) was the MD, who saw the writing on the wall as far as the pension fund was concerned and decided to jump before the whole edifice collapsed. Suppose he's on a pension of 100k a year. On the collapse of the pension scheme, his entire 100k a year is secured (at the exorbitant(?) annuity rates charged by insurance companies) before the 64 year old active service employee gets a bean. This is manifestly unfair, but still nothing is done about it.