When I’m 65
The unfunded corporate pension plan was at one time as realistic an accounting trick as such bookkeeping is usually thought to be, but that was before the tremendous wave of present and impending retirements that have been surging across the Western world for the last 30 years, looking to peak in the next 20-30. Whereas many companies early on shed their paternalistic role, a forfeiture of responsibility made easy be obscure tax code changes that soon became the only reliable source of enforced savings the workforce could rely on for their future, such as the 401(k) (which Australians would recognize as the near equivalent “superannuation”). Some industries haven’t been so lucky as to be free of the organized labor pressures as others, however, and the airlines are among those now facing the music, too little, too late. They’re not the only ones at fault. Going back as many years as pension funds have been in play, the government has been doing its level best to ensure this $110 billion dollar default result, playing at deregulation and turning a blind eye to the results. Who of our generation imagined the end of Pam Am, TWA, or even Delta? Who, having seen the future it represented, accurately foresaw the demise of the SST? Well, probably everyone who ever tried to spend accumulated frequent-flyer miles on a seat upgrade, that’s who. There’s really only one solution to such debacles: the end of unfunded pension plans. But they went the way of all flesh long ago, so if you’re going to retire, better start saving. The mattress looks safe.