Thomas Foley: “let me start by suggesting that I know all of us in this room are concerned about the viability of pensions. We want…”

“let me start by suggesting that I know all of us in this room are concerned about the viability of pensions. We want people who have worked their entire life to get the benefit of those investments. What we are also, though, trying to do is ensure that employers, corporations find a way in which to bring about the new realities of the marketplace, providing options. For years people who worked in America relied on the standard fixed pension provided by, say, General Motors or another corporation. Over the years evolved opportunities to create hybrid plans, plans personally that I enjoy, an IRA account, a 401(k) offered through Congress, Thrift Savings, Keogh plans, and you can go on with all of the acronyms, Roth IRA, all designed to give people options in a marketplace, to give them some degree of certainty and some opportunity to provide these benefits. Nine million workers today rely on the benefits for safe and secure retirement, which is an important number to note. What we are trying to figure out is how to create plans, cash balance plans, that provide both the liquidity and the opportunity to continue. Adelphia is claiming bankruptcy. GM is on the verge. Large corporations are all suggesting that they are going to file based on their pension benefit problems that they are experiencing. We have seen it in the airline industry. So I think it is more important now than ever that we come up with an opportunity to both solidify and provide options.…”