Monday, November 03, 2008

Pension Rip Off


Canada's corporations are crying the blues again about the fact that they have underfunded liabilities regarding their pension obligations to their workers. While they may have a point that the government discourages them from putting extra into their pension funds, the fact is that they use this excuse to not max out their share of their pension responsibilites. Much like the government itself with its public sector plans, which are paid for by employers and employees, but the government never puts in its share, instead it uses its general funds to account for its future liablities, which of course gets it into trouble during periods of economic downturn and when the state runs up deficits and gets into debt as it did in the ninties.
That being said while corporations could benefit from legislative changes to the tax code, the fact remains that they would still prefer to invest in stocks and to pay their CEO's lucrative salaries and pay generous dividends to their shareholders before they invest in their own workers. Surprise, surprise. Now that market has melted down they cry the blues about not having paid their share into their future obligations to those who produce their wealth; their workers.

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