"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges"

While working feverishly in my head (which means I haven't written a word) on my next post which will deal the question whether the wealthiest pay an unjust share of federal taxes . I heard a story on NPR I thought worth sharing.

Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep interviewed Ellen Schultz, the author of "How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers". I have my own inclination to be suspicious of business (evident in my last blog "Why I hate Michael J. Fox") as it seems most of corporate culture revolves around maximization of profit with little attention to social responsibility. Schultz a former reporter for the Wall Street Journel strikes me as a credible researcher - I am curious on how accurate her book is. It is a bit frightening to hear of such abuses while on some level hardly surprising. Here is a brief excerpt from the NPR website  

As companies have been moving away from traditional pension plans, they have been shifting employees to new retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, that transfer the cost — and the risk — to workers.

Companies have claimed for years that old-style pensions were unsustainable. Author Ellen Schultz tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep that there's another explanation. "The main narrative is that [companies] are struggling to pay both their pensions and these unexpectedly high health care costs for the retirees," Schultz says. "What isn't known is that companies were well-prepared for this phenomenon. The plans were in fact significantly overfunded. They had more than enough to pay every dime for every person currently employed and already retired."

Schultz investigated the changes in pension plans as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal . You can listen to the interview by clicking here
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=140344871&m=140895203

and you can read a longer excerpt here

http://www.npr.org/books/titles/140334949/retirement-heist-how-companies-plunder-and-profit-from-the-nest-eggs-of-american?tab=excerpt#excerpt

I looked for some reviews to see how the book was received and its credibility - so far so good.  I will keep my eye out for more as they are written.  Below are links to two of them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/business/when-retirees-are-shortchanged-for-corporate-profits.html?scp=1&sq=Retirement%20Heist%27:%20How%20Firms%20Trimmed%20Pensions&st=cse

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59184-333-7