Let's Bailout Union Pension Funds

[we vs us]

I give up.  You guys are right.  Unions are awesome!  They are of great benefit to our country and the workers they fiercely protect.  They can do no wrong, and should be revered and honored.

I don't think anyone said any such thing.  I DO know that unions are a favorite whipping boy of folks on the right, in a manner that far exaggerates their detrimental effect on the free market, so yeah, you'll get some pushback on that.  I also know that they hold an important place in our economic history, and were one of the key drivers that lifted our industrial worker base into the middle class during the middle portion of the last century.  They protect workers from the abuse of their employers, which used to be -- and is absolutely still -- a relevant role.  Can unions overstep, overpromise to, or overpower their employers?  Yep.  All of that is possible.  But unions are a crucial countervailing pressure to the powers of management (who, it should be noted, do their own overstepping all the time).     

[TeeDub]

Are we talking about public unions or private unions?

Or is there a real difference?

Public unions are a nuisance, demand benefits that are unheard of in the private sector and are an overall drain on the system.

[nathanm]

I give up.  You guys are right.  Unions are awesome!  They are of great benefit to our country and the workers they fiercely protect.  They can do no wrong, and should be revered and honored.

I think what you're missing is that folks like myself think both unions and companies do bad things. Neither are paragons of virtue. In this case, companies have been habitually underfunding their pension obligations for years. Bad on them. The world is not black and white, both sides can do bad things sometimes.