I admit I haven't read the linked articles yet, but I will.

IMO-our FedEx pension is not as safe as a military pension. IMO-FICA is going to increasingly be "means" tested and the level of taxation on our social security checks is going to increase. After all, we're "rich" and we've earned "enough money".

I don't think our FedEx pensions are in great danger right now, but I don't know what the future holds. I do know that a contract isn't a suicide pact, and no Judge is going to hold FedEx's feet to the fire and require pension funding in dire financial straits. Doesn't take much for me to imagine our pension being frozen or replaced with a DC plan in the future. Doesn't take much for me to imagine circumstances where FedEx hands our pension plan over to the PBGCC (assuming that foolish govt entity still exists in some form).

The biggest catch 22 pension flaw I discerned was the fact that individual companies are allowed to forecast their funding levels based on the expected earnings of the funds they already have. eg, I assume a 20% return on my investments and my pension plan is funded to 100-150% of my expected obligations so I'm not "required" to add any funds to the pension plan.....I can even consider the "extra" money in the pension plan as "earnings" and make my company look better than it actually is (making it easier to raise capital and making my stock options a much better deal for the chosen few that get them). Doesn't take too many years of booming stock market return to set the pension plan up for a double whammy, market drops like a rock and my business revenue also drops like a rock. Then guess what, all of a sudden my pension is grossly underfunded (even with my unrealistic expected returns) and by ERISA rules I am required to pony up a huge amount of buckage in a short period of time. Money that I don't have because my revenue is in the dumps.
Thus the pension saving laws of a few years back.

FedEx has been smart and prudent in the past, what i don't know is what the future holds. If I assume the worst, I'm definitely not going to be disappointed if I'm wrong. If I assume the best, might wind up eating dog food if I live to 90.
The amazing thing to me is I've flown with a few mid 50s crew members who have less saved than I do (IRA, 401k+B fund)