GE's unfunded pension liability spikes in 2011

3/3/2012

General Electric Co. said in a 10-K filed Friday that its principal pension plans had an unfunded liability of $18.4 billion as of Dec. 31, more than double the $7.1 billion reported a year earlier. GE reported that of the $8.5 billion in higher pension liability, roughly $6.8 billion was due to a change in the discount rate used to determine current funding status.

According to just released data from the Bank of Greece, January saw Greeks doing what they do best (in addition to striking of course): pulling their money from local banks, after a near record €5.3 billion, or the third highest on record, was withdrawn from the local banking system. As a result, total bank cash has now dropped to just €169 billion, down from €174 billion in December, and the lowest since 2006.

No one can dispute that Warren Buffett is a good investor—he’s made a ton of money over many years and it’s been well-documented. So what is St. Warren actually doing? Well, fortunately some college professors did the heavy lifting. They analyzed Berkshire Hathaway’s quarterly filings from 2006 all the way back to 1980, 2,140 quarter-stock observations.

Some U.S. pawnbrokers are taking liquid assets - literally. Fine wines are among the items they will accept as collateral for loans, along with family jewels and fine art, as a practice common in Britain and France catches on across the Atlantic. Liquidity issues, or a cash shortage, can be found on most rungs of the economic ladder, the pawnbrokers said. "You'd be amazed by how many wealthy individuals have terrible credit ratings."