[tw]

Stock brokers are crying that interest rates are too high; will create recession. Fools. Recession in inevitable due to an administration that spends money on wars, tax cuts, a corporate welfare like the top man was an alcoholic. Too much money overseas. Unacceptable trade imbalances. But worst of all, a government so fiscally irresponsible as to not even put the Mission Accomplished war in the budget - because you might really see those costs.

Originally Posted by tw

Ahh, but Cheney told us that "Reagan proved deficiets don't matter".

Top 10 PBGC (government) rescues of corporations and their dates. Notice who is doing most of it - and larger *rescues* are coming:

1. United Airlines $6.6 bln 2005
2. Bethlehem Steel $3.7 bln 2003
3. US Airways $3.0 bln 2003, 2005
4. LTV Steel $2.0 bln 2002
5. National Steel $1.1 bln 2002
6. Pan American Air $841 mln 1991
7. Weirton Steel $689 mln 2004
8. TWA $668 mln 2001
9. Kaiser Aluminum $566 mln 2004
10. Eastern Airlines $553 mln 1991

But it has only started. A government that does believe deficits don't matter. Financial responsiblity is for the foolish? From CBSMarketWatch of 20 Jun 2006 are some interesting quotes:

U.S. pension peril grows with bankruptcies
Originally the PBGC aimed to protect workers' pensions from corporate meltdowns. Thirty-two years later, it has become a tool for executives trying to ease long-term burdens on companies working to get out of bankruptcy. ...

Created in 1974 by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the PBGC gets most of its money from premiums paid by companies supporting pension plans. But there are no accounting rules requiring those plans be fully funded. ...

"The PBGC was put together to handle normal risks," said Olivia Mitchell, a professor at The Wharton School and director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't think anybody really expected ... there would be entire swathes of American industry that would have the bottom fall out."

Which is precisely what happened to the steel and airlines industries. There are now fears a similar fate might befall the struggling U.S. auto industry, another huge employer. ...

"The bottom line here is we're talking about a taxpayer bailout," said David John, a Heritage Foundation researcher. "It's inevitable."

Remember this is the same president who wanted to change Social Security on some myth that SS has problems. In reality, the only problem with SS is that George Jr's administration takes money out of SS to pay for things like a Mission Accomplished War, and leaves no IOU.

Why then was he not concerned about a far more serious problem - PBGC? The solution was simple if performed years ago. Require PBGC corporations to fully fund their pension funds. But then GM would have to admit financal problems long before those problems became worse. Its easier when a public believes myths of WMDs; to also pretend a PBGC problem does not exist. Then when resulting recessionary forces strike, others will be blamed. Mental midget is not so dumb; is he? He knows who remains in denial - and it's not the president.