This news may help explain why the pension funds are so desperate to force the mortgage security push-backs though sooner rather than later… as if the thought of being able to legitimately reclaim billions of dollars in investment losses wasn’t enough incentive in its own right.
On Nov. 1, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) ceases to take public comment on a new rule requiring that companies more accurately report liabilities they have from participation in multiemployer pension plans. Unless FASB is persuaded otherwise, the rule takes effect Dec. 15.
There are some 1,500 multiemployer pension plans in the United States, which are unique to unions. In these plans, multiple companies pay into the pension plan, but each company assumes the total liability. Under “last man standing” accounting rules, if five companies are in a plan and four go bankrupt, the fifth company is responsible for meeting the pension obligations for the employees of the other four companies….
FASB’s new rule could effectively wipe out the paper worth of many companies, especially in the trucking and construction industries. Once banks and creditors are aware of these staggering pension liabilities, it will make it nearly impossible for union businesses to get loans, credit lines or bonding.
Now, obviously I didn’t know that the mortgage fraud would run as deep and wide as it does, nor did I know anything about the way in which this FASB rule is likely to put so much pressure on the pension plans. But I did know that the accounts of every bank, pension, and public corporation were fictitious to some level and would likely be exposed once the pressure of debt-deflation and economic contraction set in. This is why I have resolutely ignored all of the frantic cheerleading of the desperate economists and financial analysts; being cognizant of the true nature of Keynesianism, I recognized it as nothing more than a futile attempt to revive the animal spirits that they, like neolithic cavemen dancing around a bear skull, worship without comprehension.
Moreover, you can be certain there will be more unhappy revelations and “surprises to the downside” ahead.