Nanny State Perplexes Levy: “by default or design….”?

… companies have essentially tried to turn the responsibility for some of these benefits over to the government. Whether by default or design,….

Medicare's new prescription drug benefit … has been a boon to companies eager to trim soaring drug costs for retirees. … besieged industries are jettisoning pension plans, forcing a federal agency to finance them, a bailout that carries echoes of the savings-and-loan debacle of the 1980's.

… companies have increasingly been able to sidestep demands for health coverage in part because some workers qualify for Medicaid,….

… [Business] is also willing to accept help in easing labor costs, aid that, depending on your point of view, is either prudent government assistance or brazen corporate welfare.

… Caterpillar and Goodyear…the National Association of Manufacturers…were promised billions of dollars in subsidies….

… Without major tax increases or borrowing, it is going to be difficult to sustain current obligations for entitlements,….

Clifford J. Levy, “The New Corporate Outsourcing,” New York Times, 1/29/06.