Who did it & Why?

      I am an employee of AT&T and the following is my opinion(they make me say it...)

     I opened the annual funding notice for the AT&T pension plan this week.  Another shocker, there was a 20 billion dollar difference in the total amount from 1/1/2008 to 1/1/2009!  I immediately thought, someone had their hand in the cookie jar.  I'm sure with politicians and corporations, a missing 20 billion isn't much, but it is to me.  AT&T purchased BellSouth in 2006 and merged the BellSouth pension funds into company funds in 2008.  I can understand why in 2008 the total was $71,034,353,000.  What is odd, is that in 2009, the total was $51,495,258,000.  I know this is probably old news to the folks who follow accounting scandals, but I decided to do a little research on the subject.

     It seems to be merely an accounting change to reflect gains and losses in the same year they are incurred.  Most companies smooth large gains/losses over a period of years.  That seems to be the official story.  Don't you feel better?  I know I do!  So, you don't have to worry that all the pension money is gone, it's just a little accounting change.  I wonder if the accountants are in the magician's union.  There is a Wall Street Journal story on the topic here.  They explain it much better than I can.

     I'm certainly not a whisleblower!  The AT&T story is old news and we all know what happens to whistleblowers!  A good case in point is a story I found here about whistleblowers who went up against BP.  I have to admit that it is possible that all these people who were critical of British Petroleum would have been murdered, shot, imprisoned, run over, plane crashed, or just missing, anyway!  There is no proof that BP is involved in any way!  Period!

     Remember BP established a 20 billion dollar fund to help with the cleanup and compensate those whose income has been hurt by the oil disaster.  Again, 20 billion dollars is a lot of money!  According to CNN,  as of April 2011, they have only spent $3.8 billion in approved payouts.  It's just hard for corporations to give away their money!  Corporations have tremendous costs with all the managers, lawyers, and CEOs!   It's hard to pay for a CEO these days because it costs a lot of money!  Their salaries are astronomical, not to mention their golden parachutes afterward!  According to USAtoday, during all these hard times we've had lately, CEO pay has risen 27%!  Just how much is enough?  John D. Rockefeller answered that question with "just a little bit more".

     Reminds me of a Bible story...  I can imagine Satan taking all the CEOs up to the highest peak on earth.  He shows them all the earth's treasures that will be theirs if only they would fall down and worship him!  I believe they immediately bowed down and became his evil minions!  The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.   Ephesians chapter 4 even sounds like the apostle Paul is refering to corporate entities... "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed."