Things that make you go hmmm.

So much economic debate takes place only in the world of theory. Fortunately we have a nice real world example in Alex Tabarrok's astute observations on the United Airlines termination of its employee pension plan:

Now, let's review. A large organization counts on its younger workers and continuing high revenues to fund the pensions and medical care of its retired workers but finds that rising health care costs, longer life-expectancy, and its own inability to control spending force it to cut pension benefits and switch to personal accounts.
Kinda makes you go hmmm...doesn't it?

Hmmm.