Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation federal obligations in Michigan

A 17-award cell, not a pension census

This tie reports the cell where awarding agency 1602, labeled Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, meets Michigan as place-of-performance state. The $635,030,505.50 figure is the sum of obligations on awards that carry both attributes in the USAspending aggregate. Remove Michigan and PBGC’s national profile remains; remove 1602 and Michigan’s all-agency spending remains. This page is neither.

Seventeen awards is an unusually small row count for a nine-figure state–agency slice. That scarcity is a fact about the aggregate table, not a count of retirees, plans, or plants. The join does not list the 17 instruments, and it does not say they are all the same type.

PBGC activity in a manufacturing state invites stories about specific plans and plants. This page refuses those stories because the packet does not name them. Seventeen award records summing to $635,030,505.50 is the entire numeric claim. Anything beyond that — which employers, which trustees, which years — would be invented.

Reading agency 1602 without extra story

USAspending’s awarding-agency dimension uses numeric codes. This join is keyed to 1602. The English name is Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Other Labor Department and social-insurance agencies have different codes. Folding 1602 into those cabinets would mix $635,030,505.50 with unrelated Michigan totals.

The agency hub for 1602 is the place to see PBGC awards without a Michigan constraint. Packet facts here stop at the dollar sum, the award count of 17, the state, and the code. No plan names, no trustee actions, and no fiscal-year split are supplied, so none are invented.

Michigan as a geography tag, not a plant list

Michigan in this table is the USAspending place-of-performance state code MI. An award that names a Michigan performance location, a recipient address in the state, or a geography field that simply reads MI can all contribute to the $635,030,505.50 sum. The join does not separate those cases. Awards coded to Ohio, Indiana, or another state stay out even if the underlying pension history crosses the border.

Statewide Michigan federal spending is the parent geography. Agency 1602 is one awarding agency among many there. Treating $635.0 million as Michigan’s full federal footprint would erase Social Security, Health and Human Services, Defense, and every other code on the state hub.

Michigan’s auto and industrial history is not a column in USAspending. The geography tag is MI. Awards that list another state, even if the underlying pension history is Michigan-related, stay out of this $635,030,505.50 cell. The join is mechanical.

Why the average looks so large

Average obligation is about $37.4 million ($635,030,505.50 ÷ 17). With only 17 rows, a single large instrument moves the mean. The ratio is a concentration flag, not a typical PBGC “award size,” and not a median. It also is not a statement that each of 17 Michigan employers received $37.4 million.

USAspending obligations can be positive or include downward adjustments in the raw file; this aggregate reports the net total in the facts. Without a transaction table, 17 is best read as award records in the aggregate, not as 17 closed cases.

With 17 rows, rounding and a single large instrument dominate interpretation. Report the mean as about $37.4 million and stop. Do not treat that mean as a typical PBGC intervention size, and do not scale it by an assumed number of retirees. The facts do not include a retiree count.

Limits of the PBGC–Michigan join

Sharing a state with an awarding agency does not mean Michigan officials selected these awards, and it does not mean PBGC outlays equal $635,030,505.50 inside the state. Federal campaign-finance records are a different dataset; they do not fund this USAspending cell. Correlation is not causation.

Continue from Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in Michigan for the overlay table, Michigan federal spending for all agencies, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for agency 1602 nationally, and All spending ties for other pairs.

How to read 17 rows without inventing a narrative

Seventeen is a small integer. It tempts readers to guess the 17 instruments. Guessing is not analysis. The USAspending aggregate that produced $635,030,505.50 does not list those records on this page. Until a transaction table is attached, the honest description is: 17 award records, one state tag, one agency code.

Michigan’s industrial reputation is not a substitute for missing fields. The join remains agency 1602 × state MI. Obligations remain commitments, not outlays. The mean remains about $37.4 million because 17 divides $635,030,505.50 that way, not because each of 17 employers received that amount.

Questions

How much PBGC spending is obligated in Michigan?

USAspending records $635,030,505.50 in obligations for awarding agency 1602 (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) with Michigan place of performance, covering 17 awards. That is an obligation aggregate for this pair, not an outlay figure and not a count of pensioners.

Why are there only 17 awards for more than $635 million?

The aggregate contains 17 award records summing to $635,030,505.50. A small row count with a large dollar total produces a high mean (about $37.4 million). The table does not identify those 17 instruments or say they are typical.

Does this page list which pension plans are involved?

No. Packet facts include the agency name, code 1602, the Michigan geography tag, $635,030,505.50 in obligations, and 17 awards. Plan names and trustee details are not in those facts.

Is a PBGC obligation the same as a benefit payment?

No. Obligations are commitments in USAspending. Benefit payments and other outlays are a different accounting step. This page reports $635,030,505.50 in obligations, not a check register.