Retirement

As the Obama administration prepares to send Chrysler into Bankruptcy Court, with General Motors possibly to follow, one of the biggest losers may be the automakers' current and future retirees, a group of nearly 1 million people whose pensions and healthcare funds could be slashed by tens of billions of dollars. That could pose political trouble for the administration, which has pressed both companies since February to ready themselves for bankruptcy as a means of purging their massive debts.

Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Douglas L. Barry, who took office two years ago with a mission to reform a highly respected agency that had become tarnished by allegations of racism and retaliation, will retire at the end of August.

"Basses, you're all over the place! Tenors, you're too bright! Altos, I'm hearing foreign matter. Sopranos, stop wobbling. I don't want this to sound like Podunk!" For 40 years as choirmaster of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Westwood, James Vail has exhorted his vocalists, often in a vexed high-pitched tone accompanied by loud piano-pounding, to mind their sharps and flats.

Looking to avoid the need for layoffs and furloughs, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council are weighing a plan to offer early retirement to thousands of city workers, some of whom would receive an incentive of at least $15,000 to leave.

Two days before the Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote on an early retirement package for thousands of workers, the city's largest business organization warned the proposal would contribute to a "massively unfunded and unsustainable" pension liability.

When Jerry Huben began working for Northrop Aircraft Co. in 1941, the starting pay for a factory worker was 65 cents an hour and engineers armed with slide rules designed airplanes on a drafting board. On Tuesday, Huben's co-workers at what is now Northrop Grumman Corp. in El Segundo held a send-off for the aircraft engineer, who was retiring after 68 years of helping build some of the nation's more notable airplanes. No one else had worked as long. No one had even come close.

Millions of Americans aren't saving enough for retirement, but African American and Latino investors, on average, are further behind than whites and are more likely to be a greater burden to their families because they save too little and invest too conservatively, new research has found. "It's extraordinarily disconcerting," said Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, which along with benefits firm Hewitt Associates conducted a study of 401(k) participants.

Scott Carson is stepping aside as the head of Boeing Co.'s troubled airplane business, part of a sweeping management shake-up announced Monday by the Chicago aerospace manufacturer. Carson, 63, plans to retire from Boeing effective Jan. 1 but will depart his current post Tuesday. He will be replaced by Jim Albaugh, 59, who has run Boeing's defense business since 2002. Albaugh's replacement is Dennis Muilenburg, 45, president of an $8-billion Boeing unit that provides support to the company's military customers.

The city's two top financial analysts advised Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday to reject an early retirement plan for employees and to instead lay off 926 city workers and force 22,000 others to take unpaid days off. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana and Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller said the plan to trim staff by allowing 2,400 employees to retire up to five years ahead of schedule would "devastate city operations"...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday abandoned an early retirement plan his administration had negotiated with labor leaders as a rapidly worsening budget gap moved the city and some of its most powerful employee unions toward open conflict. City Council members offered to give union leaders until today to identify another $60 million in cuts that would be needed to salvage the early retirement plan. If the unions fail to do so, council members may be forced to back layoffs for as many as 926 custodians, recreation workers, building inspectors and other city employees.