Leaderboard

Too many Americans have been staking out absolute positions and daring others to cross a rhetorical line. Sometimes the rhetoric on even this site has trended in a similar direction, with folks just not showing respect for reasoned but differing views. The divisions that evolve reduce our confidence in our nation's Constitution, and similarly in the fundamental approaches in Scouting. The WWII combat veterans who were the Scoutmasters and Skippers of my youth were not that way. They fought hard in a war to ease my way through life, and Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts helped make me what I hope i

I believe in the ideals. It's the people who work so hard at tearing them down, who seem to be gaining in influence, that erode faith... I, for one, am standing in the gap as best I can.

Here is the answer to the question regarding whether BSA professionals/retirees would have an economic incentive to favor liquidation over reorganization. If the pension benefit guarantee fund were to take over the account, the longer-time and higher-paid employees will have their monthly payouts significantly reduced. Some of the monthly checks would get cut from the 15K-20K/ month range down to $5K/month. So they overwhelmingly favor reorganization. For lowest-paid or short-term employees there is not much of an issue.

BSA is quoted as saying they are deeply sorry for the abuse and expects that any irregularities among claims will be addressed as it works toward a settlement to compensate survivors. My guess is they take the path as #1 as I don't see the settlement changing at all. Basically, BSA will give everything it can (or is forced to) regardless of the numbers we are talking about.

Here's why liquidation hurts plaintiffs who want money, not vengeance. Folks like Kosnoff want BSA dead, liquidated, and gone. That's great on the "vengeance" side, but it is lousy in terms of maximizing the amount of any Victims Settlement pool. Let's play with some numbers. Right now, there are $4.3 BILLION in claims against BSA. BSA has total assets of $600 million to $1 billion (depending on who you ask and how you count it). In the event of liquidation, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is first at the trough and eats whatever of that $600 million is needed for

The kids in the Southern contingent of our family address all adults as "Sir" or "Ma'am". Reunion visits tend to make you feel as if you've had a sudden promotion to something ...

Right, this is why my Council Key-3 told us: the plaintiffs (or most) WANT a settlement that leaves BSA alive. Liquidation means Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation comes to protect the BSA retiree/pensioners and they re first in line and plaintiffs/their attorneys get the scraps of whatever is left, which won't be much.

The claimant's attorneys want the largest possible amount placed into a Victims Trust Fund, so they have the economic motivation to file as many claims as possible and argue that, within the totality of claims filed, all are valid. The insurance companies want the lowest possible amount placed into the Victim's Trust Fund, so they have the economic motivation to uncover fraud and other facts that would diminish the value of the totality of claims filed. In a way, the BSA is somewhere in-between, because it wants to see justice done for victims via payments, but also wants to retain sufficien