[Halliburton]
by PAUL KRUGMAN
The New York Times
September 24, 2002
The following is attached to Mr. Krugman's article, "White Man's Burden:"
Halliburton has objected to my use of the word "confiscate" in summarizing
changes in pension benefits to employees whose divisions were
sold, changes described in a Sept. 10 New York Times article. Although
Halliburton's actions were legal - I did not suggest otherwise - they
had the effect of depriving workers of benefits they had been led to expect.
In particular, workers who planned to take early retirement were
informed that they had "severed" their employment relationship - even
though they had no choice in the matter - and that as a result, if
they retired early they would not receive the level of benefits suggested
by their retirement plan statements. However much Halliburton may
try to put a spin on its actions, its behavior remains, as one pension
expert quoted in the original article put it, "scandalous."
nytimes.com
Copyright 2002 The New York Times
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The following is an excerpt from the article, "Cronies in Arms," published on
September 17, 2002 by Paul Krugman
"A story in last week's Times may shed light on that question. It concerned another company
that sold a division, then declared that its employees had "resigned," allowing it to
confiscate their pensions. Yet this company did exactly the opposite when its
former C.E.O. resigned, changing the terms of his contract so that he could claim full retirement
benefits; the company took an $8.5 million charge against earnings to reflect the cost
of its parting gift to this one individual. Only the little people get shafted.
The other company is named Halliburton. The object of its generosity was Dick Cheney."
nytimes.com
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