Today’s Federal Register.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan spoke to the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee today. The main point of his speech, according to Reuters via Yahoo! News as reported in this article–“Greenspan Vows Low Rates, Sees Recovery“–was that he vowed to keep U.S. interest rates low for a long time, but said that the economy “could very well be embarking on a period of extended growth.” Forbes reports in this article–“Greenspan: Bush admin pension proposal is an advance“–that Greenspan also addressed the Bush administration pension funding proposal and called the proposal “an improvement,” but said that problems remain including company pension rules from the Internal Revenue Service and the Financial Accounting Standards Board that are “more complex than we need.”
Also, Christine Hall for CNSNews via Crosswalk.com reports: “White House, Congress Tackle Pension Quandary.“
The Washington Post has this op-ed: “Fixing Pensions.” The article calls for working out an “approach based on factual, accurate projections of future costs, not convenient fictions that may boost corporate profits now but create more problems down the road.”
“Employees vs. executives: BellSouth, Scientific-Atlanta sued over management of company retirement plans“: MSNBCNews reports that ERISA lawsuits have been filed against BellSouth Corp. and Scientific-Atlanta Inc. The article mentions the Enron and Worldcom lawsuits (which have been discussed here previously) and how all of these cases have brought an increased focus on the role of ERISA fiduciaries. The article also mentions the trend, particularly among the airline industry, of hiring independent fiduciaries to oversee plan investment decisions to avoid having the executives make these decisions “with all the conflict of interest that entails.”
Some good news from CNNMoney.com: “Coming soon: Gains in your 401(k): A strong quarter for stocks should translate into more money in your retirement plan.“