We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,878,180.43 | Books Available: 685,289 | Members Online: 197

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers

Retirement Heist How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers
Author: Ellen E. Schultz

Retirement Heist is a scathing and urgent exposé of one of the most critical and least understood crises of our time. — '' 'As far as I can determine there is only one solution [to the CEO's demand to save more money]', the human resources representative wrote to her superiors. 'That would be the death of all existing retirees.' '' — It's no secr... more »et that hundreds of companies have been slashing pensions and health coverage earned by millions of retirees. Employers blame an aging workforce, stock market losses, and spiraling costs--what they call ''a perfect storm'' of external forces that has forced them to take drastic measures.

But this so-called retirement crisis is no accident. Ellen E. Schultz, award-winning investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, reveals how large companies and the retirement industry--benefits consultants, insurance companies, and banks--have all played a huge and hidden role in the death spiral of American pensions and benefits. A little over a decade ago, most companies had more than enough set aside to pay the benefits earned by two generations of workers, no matter how long they lived. But by exploiting loopholes, ambiguous regulations, and new accounting rules, companies essentially turned their pension plans into piggy banks, tax shelters, and profit centers.

Drawing on original analysis of company data, government filings, internal corporate documents, and confidential memos, Schultz uncovers decades of widespread deception during which employers have exaggerated their retiree burdens while lobbying for government handouts, secretly cutting pensions, tricking employees, and misleading shareholders. She reveals how companies:

- Siphon billions of dollars from their pension plans to finance downsizings and sell the assets in merger deals

-Overstate the burden of rank-and-file retiree obligations to justify benefits cuts while simultaneously using the savings to inflate executive pay and pensions

-Hide their growing executive pension liabilities, which at some companies now exceed the liabilities for the regular pension plans

-Purchase billions of dollars of life insurance on workers and use the policies as informal executive pension funds. When the insured workers and retirees die, the company collects tax-free death benefits

-Preemptively sue retirees after cutting retiree health benefits and use other legal strategies to erode their legal protections.

Though the focus is on large companies, which drive the legislative agenda, the same games are being played at smaller companies, nonprofits, public pensions plans and retirement systems overseas. Nor is this a partisan issue: employees of all political persuasions and income levels--from managers to miners, pro-football players to pilots--have been slammed.

Audio Books swap for two (2) credits.

ISBN-13: 9781455137756
ISBN-10: 1455137758
Publication Date: 12/1/2011
Edition: Unabridged
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Book Type: Audio CD
Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Elizabeth R. (esjro) - , reviewed Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers on 4/4/2023 + 988 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Although this book was written in 2011 it is still timely. If anything, the abuses and exploitation of loopholes it describes and explains clearly to a reader not savvy in financial legalese have likely only gotten worse.

Share/Like this Review?

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "Retirement Heist How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers"

Genres:

Business & Money >> Personal Finance

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers

Top Member Book Reviews

Loading...