25 Few challenged the “terminate or liquidate” statement: Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis, “Most Workers Are in Dark on Health of Their Pensions—US Airways Killed a Plan That Pilots Had No Inkling Was in Financial Danger,”
26 Without the information, the pilots: Author interview with James Kenney, the pilots’ actuary. See also U.S. Airways Group, Inc., United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Va., Alexandria Div., Case No. 02-83984-SSM, Ch. 11.
26 Denis Waldron, a retired pilot in Waleska, Georgia: “Hardship Testimonies.”
27 The maximum in 2011: $54,000: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Maximum Monthly Guarantee Tables.
27 Don Tibbs, of Gainesville, Georgia: “Hardship Testimonies.”
CHAPTER 2 : HEIST
29 In 1997, Cigna executives held a number of meetings:
31 In September 1997, consulting firm Mercer signed:
31 “We’ve been able to avoid bad press”: Exhibits,
32 The law “doesn’t require you to say”: “Introduction to Cash Balance/Pension Equity plans,” Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, New York, 1998.
33 “Jan, you would be sick if you knew”:
34 “immediately reduce pension costs about 25 percent to 40 percent”: A Kwasha Lipton partner, benefits conference in 1984.
34 Bank of America was the first company to test-drive: Bank of America’s senior vice president of compensation and benefits, 1993 Conference Board meeting.
34 “One feature which might come in handy”: Robert S. Byrne, partner, Kwasha Lipton, letter to a client, 1989.
35 Amara’s opening balance was $91,124:
36 Gerald Smit, a longtime AT&T employee:
36 “masquerading as a defined contribution”: Eric Lofgren, “The Better Alternative Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution Plans,” Record of the Society of Actuaries, 1986, Vol. 12, No. 1.
38 Jim Bruggeman was forty-nine: Ellen E. Schultz and Elizabeth MacDonald, “Retirement Wrinkle: Employers Win Big with a Pension Shift; Employees Often Lose,”
38 Steven Langlie had spent three decades: Ellen E. Schultz, “Problems with Pensions: What You Don’t Know About the Cash-Balance Retirement Plans Can Hurt You,”
39 the giant accounting firm, made a big miscalculation: Schultz and MacDonald, “Retirement Wrinkle.”
41 “The plan took me months to understand”: Donald Sauvigne, IBM’s head of retirement benefits, 1995 actuaries’ conference in Vancouver.
42 Watson Wyatt had been marketing its “pension equity plan”: “Workforce Management: Strategic Retirement Design,”
42 “It is not until they are ready to retire”: Watson Wyatt actuary, “Introduction to Cash Balance/Pension Equity Plans,” Society of Actuaries, New York, October 1998.
42 “but they are really happy”: Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, October, 1998.
42 One service was the firm’s “Aging Diagnostic”:
44 Finlay was exactly the kind of employee: Ellen E. Schultz, “Pension Cuts 101: Companies Find Host of Subtle Ways to Pare Retirement Payouts,”
47 “it masks a lot of the changes”: William Torrie, PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Plan Design Issues: The Corporate Perspective,” New York Annual Meeting, Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 3, New York, October 1998.
47–48 “If you decide your plan’s too rich”: Norman Clausen, principal, Kwasha Lipton, Society of Actuaries meeting, Colorado Springs, June 1996.
48 Single Payment Optimizer Tool (SPOT): Watson Wyatt client material.
49 “Choosey Employees Choose Lump Sums!”:
49 lump sums… shift longevity risk: Author’s analysis. The Social Security Administration has details about life expectancy at http://www.ssa.gov/history/lifeexpect.html; the Wharton School has a life expectancy calculator at http://gosset.wharton.upenn.edu/mortalit y/perl/CalcForm.html.
50 General Motors, for instance, doesn’t allow: Theo Francis, “Pension Tension: Figuring Out When to Lump It,”
50 about one-third of blue-collar workers: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010.
50 The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association: Theo Francis, “Pension Tension.”
51 Mary Fletcher, a marketing services trainer: Author interview.
52 During oral arguments before the Supreme Court:
CHAPTER 3 : PROFIT CENTER
55 Their primary tools included the new accounting rules: Financial Accounting Standards Board, “Employers’ Accounting for Pensions,” Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 87, 1985.
57 “You could have real economic wealth transfers”: Julia D’Souza, John Jacob, and Barbara Lougee, “Why Do Firms Convert to Cash Balance Pension Plans? An Empirical Investigation,” American Accounting Association, Annual Meeting, 2003.
58 companies with the most pension income: Ellen E. Schultz, “Joy of Overfunding: Companies Reap a Gain of Fat Pension Plans,”
58 Patricia McConnell, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns: Robert McGough and Ellen E. Schultz, “How Pension Surpluses Lift Profits,”
60 Researchers at Harvard: Daniel Bergstresser, Mihir Desai, and Joshua Rauh, “Earnings Manipulation, Pension Assumptions and Managerial Investment Decisions,”
