As mentioned in this thread, pensions are just not sustainable in the private sector and are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

When I retired in 2004 my company offered a choice of one of several attractive pension options or an also attractive cash buyout, both in addition to the 401k. I took the cash, as the market was doing very well. Then came the big recession and most of my friends/co-workers who were retiring took the pension to avoid the uncertainty in the future. The company no longer offers pension to new hires just a 401k with a pretty good company match. This is the trend these days. Not necessarily bad, just a different era.

 

The problem is the people who are receiving the pensions planned on having their pensions as part of their retirement. You can't just take those pensions away, you have to systematically phase them out for future retirees. Thats something the government and private companies are doing.

 

https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/09/new...ive/index.html

Ford tells Trump why it won't make China-built car in US

President Donald Trump offered some business advice to Ford Motor on Sunday: because of the administration's high tariffs on car imports from China, Ford can start making its Focus Active in the United States.

Ford wasted little time responding to say that wasn't going to happen.

"It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units," Ford said Sunday.

The statement came after Trump tweeted about an article from August 31, when Ford announced that it was canceling plans to make the Focus Active, a compact crossover, in China and ship them to the United States.

"This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!" , citing a https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/ford-cancels-plan-to-sell-chinese-made-vehicle-in-the-united-states.html.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, including some automobiles, in a move Trump has touted as necessary to punish Beijing for what he says are its unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft. China has retaliated in kind, and Washington and Beijing have continue to ratchet up threats of more tariffs.

Ford said last month that it was scrapping its plans to import Focus Actives made in China to sell in the United States because Trump's tariffs would make the cars too expensive.

But the company also reaffirmed that it has no plans to start making the car on US soil. It will continue to sell the vehicle outside the states.

Sedans and other small cars are falling out of favor with Americans.

Ford already announced earlier this year that it would reallocate $7 billion of research and development funds from cars to SUVs and trucks. Executive James Farley said at an investor's conference in January that the carmaker's lineup is "shifting from cars to utilities."

It's not just Ford. All three Detroit automakers have made it clear that they're going all-in on SUVs and trucks.

 

This is not simply a question of trying to "change" my mind, or anybody else's. Simple math dictates that if pensions are eliminated, something else (such as Social Security or a new program) will have to take their place.....or that the present SS system will have to be expanded. Some people don't adequately save for retirement simply because of carelessnes or living beyond their means for too many years, but others, with many responsibilities, simply can't afford to....something has to help them.

 

Trump has a good point. Companies like Ford are going to have to realize that time marches on, one cannot live in the past, things change, and they simply can't have their old system any more of building cheaply overseas, selling here, and making a big profit. Globalization has been a disaster for the American worker, and soon it will hopefully be a relic from the past. Jobs need to come back, vehicles built maybe a little more expensively here, but still with a reasonable profit, if not as large as before.

 

Yet the US has a record low unemployment rate.

 

Yes and no. You can't make a decent living flipping hamburgers at McDonald's.

Note this article, BTW, from the Washington Post, a notoriously Anti-Trump organization. Even they acknowledge that what many considered impossible is starting to happen.....Blue-Collar industry jobs returning to the Rust Belt. That shows that companies CAN manufacture things see in the U.S. and still stay in business.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.44cecedb54e5

 

The vast majority of Americans no longer have pensions. People just have to know that they're not going to have a pension. I plan my retirement around not even having social security.

If people haven't saved enough for retirement, they'll just have to keep working. Thats what most people do. You are completely able to work now into your 70s and even your 80s depending on what you do and your health.

You have it backwards. Globalization is not a fad LOL, its not going anywhere. There are plenty of consumers in the world who are not in the US, and companies like Ford will just serve those consumers if it isn't profitable to serve us as consumers. In any event, all they have to do is wait Trump out and the tariffs will ease again, this is not a "permanent" situation. Look how quickly the cafe standards are rolled back, tariffs will be rolled back just as fast by the next President.

What you call the "old system" is in fact the "new system". What you want to do is turn the clock back and go back to the 1960s and thats just not going to happen...the horse has already left the barn.

 

You can afford to. Many can't.

True to an extent...but the human body is not a perpetual-motion machine. It has limits.



Globalism has been around for decades.....it is nothing new. Trump, however, is concerned with those he is responsible for...the American worker. For decades, the American worker has suffered because of globalism. That, fortunately, is now changing...if you have not done so, check out the WaPo article posted for Jill, just above.

 

But most people already have no pension, so where does that leave us now? Less than 10% of American workers have access to a pension.

But those limits are not up at 65 years old anymore in most cases.

It will not change long term. Globalism is the future, if we don't get on board and be competitive, we're going to be left behind.

The American worker needs to find new avenues of employment and income.

 

Detroit Free Press has Ford's rebuttal to Trump's tweet:

https://www.freep.com/story/money/ca...us/1250457002/

 

 

Agreed, and Nike sales are up after the ad, not down.

 

 

Maybe you can....or maybe that's not where the new jobs are. As has been noted in another tread, wage growth has been strong for the past several years.

How about from non-polictical organization Jalopnik?