American Airlines' version of free-market:shift burden to the taxpayer

American Airlines reassures workers on pensions - Yahoo! Finance: "AMR and its lawyers have said publicly that the company could terminate its retirement plans and turn them over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. That's a federal agency that insures traditional "defined-benefit" plans that are still common in the airline industry, although not in most other sectors of the economy.
The PBGC limits the benefits it will pay to retirees, but the limit affects only people with relatively large pensions. A 65-year-old retiring this year could get up to $54,000, with lower limits for people who retire at younger ages.
Brundage didn't say how many American Airlines pilots have vested pensions above $54,000 a year, and a spokesman for the company, Bruce Hicks, said "We did not break out percentages by any specific work group."
But Brundage did say that excluding pilots and upper management, only 2 percent of employees would see their benefits limited if the company terminated the retirement plans."

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