And hey, if that works, let's just cheat investors, too.
A corporation IS the investors. If anyone is going to rob, cheat, or steal, its going to be the heads of the corporation who were put in place by the shareholders. If you don't approve of a CEO and the board of a corporation you can vote with your feet and sell your shares.
There is a school of thought that says the Enron phenomena grew out of the Clinton administration; corporate executive saw Clinton get away with the most outrageous behavior and decided they could too.
I don't buy this. As much as it pains me to defend Clinton, his getting a BJ, his unseemly behavior, and his lying to congress has nothing to do with people being crooks.
How long will it be until other companies begin to follow this lead and just ignore pension obligations?
If they want to stay reputable, they go as far as they can before they claim bunkruptcy- this is the only way they can shed their pension burden, a director in a corporation can't just wake up one morning and have a Eureka moment where he decides it would be great to cut off pensions, goes in to work, writes a memo, and its a done deal.
BTW, consumers default on their financial obligations everyday when they file for bankrupcy because they have $75,000 in credit card debt and can't pay it off.
The stock market has crashed before and most assuredly can crash again. Many people are just now recovering losses they incurred after 9/11, and this is without some serious event like terrorism in the CONUS, or some widespread biological or health hazard
worrying about 'what ifs' and burying your savings in a coffee can in your backyard will never get a person ahead. Do you think Donald Trump worries about "holy geez I hope that building this giant casino/hotel isn't going to break me?" He got ahead in life by taking huge risks, not relying on others to watch his back.