The Canary is Dead

United Airlines, which is operating in bankruptcy protection, received court permission yesterday to terminate its four employee pension plans...The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit  Guaranty Corporation,  will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 workers.

Some retirees could see sharply lower pension payments as a result; others will see little change in benefits, depending on a variety of factors. Some retirees at US Airways, which has terminated its plans, have seen benefits drop by as much as 50 percent....United plans to switch its current employees from traditional retirement programs, which are called defined-benefit plans, to defined-contribution plans like 401(k) programs

Now, let's review.  A large organization counts on its younger workers and continuing high revenues to fund the pensions and medical care of its retired workers but finds that rising health care costs, longer life-expectancy, and its own inability to control spending force it to cut pension benefits and switch to personal accounts.

Kinda makes you go hmmm...doesn't it?