what could be done but ain't

here's a harpooning 
worth a shit ...

we could use several 
tens of thousands more 
just like it ...



=======================

"In a rare victory 
for the federal pension insurance program
 the government says
 it will stop going after the assets
 of the industrialist Ira L. Rennert
 because it has been assured 
that Mr. Rennert will keep
 a disputed steelworkers' pension plan going"

" That means that Mr. Rennert's
 $185 million estate in the Hamptons is safe"

"Mr. Rennert's company, the Renco Group,
 has owned the pension plan's sponsor,
 WCI Steel, since 1988. "

"The steel company, based in Warren, Ohio
, went bankrupt in 2003, 
 the pension fund seemed 
at risk of being abandoned" 

"A group of financiers 
who wanted to acquire the steel maker
 said they did not want the pension plan
 and would leave it 
in an empty corporate shell" 


"either Mr. Rennert 
or the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 
would eventually have to  come to its rescue" 

"The plan covers about 2,000 workers and retirees" 

 the government
 took the first steps of foreclosing 
on Mr. Rennert's holdings"

 




" The pension agency said
 it had calculated that if it had  to take over
 the abandoned plan,
 it would have borne losses of about $94 million"

"In addition, the steelworkers
 would have lost part of their benefits
 because the federal pension insurance program 
has limited coverage"


"The outcome is an unusual 
one for the agency"


" Even though WCI Steel was bankrupt,
 the Renco Group owns other businesses
 and valuable assets,
 including Mr. Rennert's house, 
that were worth more
 than the amount needed 
to make the pension fund fully solvent" 

"The agency has taken the same action
 a few times in the past,
 going after a beach house
 and other prized possessions 
of the financier Carl C. Icahn 
in the 1992 bankruptcy of Trans World Airlines"

.
"Renco's decision to assume sponsorship
 of this pension plan achieves the outcome 
that is in the best interest of all stakeholders," 


  see what's possible