401(k)s Are Just Like Pensions

Nice article in the paper on Sunday, So you think your 401(k) money is safe. With a solid decade of pension raiding and destruction under our belts here in the U.S., some more details are coming out about 401(k)s. If the company responsible for your 401(k) doesn't fall under regulations for larger companies, then your retirement can be taken away from you without you even knowing it. I guess the smaller companies were jealous with what all the big dogs were getting away with and wanted to get in on the act.

Like most corporate malfeasance, there is little monitoring of it by the federal government, and what monitoring there is doesn't have the staff or funding to really pursue the problems. The article lays out several cases where the government just doesn't follow up, leaving people out to dry. Even when they do press charges, the victim is often left with maybe 10% of what they should be getting. Yet another opportunity to work until you die.

Of course, the article presents traditional pensions in a rosier light that isn't quite right. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has been screwing over people left and right in recent years, and there is talk that they are getting stretched so thin from all the bankruptcy scams that they might collapse completely.