zlacker

Pensions only hurt companies long term if they are lying about the long-term cost. If the pension is funded, how can it hurt a firm? A fully-funded pension attracts employees, and encourages retention in a competitive market.

Unless your argument is that management will always lie about the cost, and under-fund. Which is more of a comment about American management and the regulators than about pensions.

Normally I'd say corporate pensions are a terrible idea because no firm around today can credibly promise to be good for its debts in 40 years. But Boeing really is TBTF, so a pension from Boeing might actually be worth something.

>>michae+(OP)
A "fully funded" pension requires ongoing contributions made into the fund by the company to make sure returns are high enough, especially during a market downturn, when the company can least afford to make such top-up contributions.