Benefits Trap

From BusinessWeek magazine comes an extensive article about the predicament old-line companies have gotten themselves into, by pledging billions in retirement benefits that they can no longer sustain, and will most likely off load to the government and their former employees. It's a sad situation industry as a whole have gotten themselves into. During the boom days, they invested little in sustaining their benefit programs -- now they're crying as younger and sometimes foreign rivals, compete against them, but don't carry their 'legacy costs.' GM for example need at least $1,784 per vehicle to cover their retirement bills, where Toyota only needs $200 per vehicle. At the end of the day, the bailout for these companies will come on the backs of the taxpayers of today. Again -- how did we get into this predicament? Short term, profit motivated thinking, that's hardly strategic and long term. For industry that employs such brainpower, it's continually amazes me how festering greed can rot away at that intelligence.