Not 'Intel Inside' but 'Rotten Inside'- Even the sky is not the limit to Corporate Greed

The WSJ, in a rare display of investigative journalism, unearthed and reported yet another "slick" move by some corporations to pay more to executives and avoid taxes.

"Companies Tap Pension Plans To Fund Executive Benefits Little-Known Move Uses Tax Break Meant For Rank and File."

The first two paragraphs say it all:
"At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting their pension plans into resources to finance their executives' retirement benefits and pay.

In recent years, companies from Intel Corp. to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives' supplemental benefits and compensation."

At a time when these and other companies have eliminated pension plans for new employees and restricted contributions or eliminated them for long time employees, they have shifted the long term payment obligations for senior managers on to the Pension Plans. These moves unduly benefit the senior managers and also reduce the tax payments to the government- a double whammy for the tax payer employee.

This is yet another reason for me to stress even more the ethical aspects of business, especially to accounting and finance majors. Unfortunately my job is nearly impossible when the students see this type of egregious behavior by the "leading companies."