General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"I Never Thought I'd Be Working In My 70s": Three Distressing Retirement Stories
http://www.alternet.org/economy/americas-retirement-crisisIts official: America has entered a retirement crisis. Or, as Forbes understatedly put it, the greatest retirement crisis in the history of the world.
And, while the causes are manifold the demographic bulge of baby boomers leaving the fulltime workforce; greater worker longevity; the disastrous, 30-year shift from traditional defined benefit pensions to costly 401(k)-style plans most experts agree that the national retirement implosion has gone critical, with an estimated 75 percent of Americans who are nearing retirement age having less than $27,000 in their retirement accounts.
Even John C. Bogle, the founder of the $2 trillion mutual fund and 401(k) behemoth Vanguard Group, recently admitted that the system of retirement plans that rely on 401(k)s is broken.
[401(k)s were] designed as a thrift plan, and it doesnt work as a retirement plan, Bogle declared.
http://vimeo.com/79730669#at=0
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Once it hits, everyone will be quite shocked and terribly frustrated that nothing was done. If only we'd known about it before...
xchrom
(108,903 posts)surprise, unexpected, unforeseen...etc
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)And the of course we will have to lower taxes and decrease regulations becuase that's what caused the whole thing in the first place.
Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)Last edited Sat Nov 23, 2013, 10:45 AM - Edit history (1)
Some undeserving Wall Street Wanker is driving a Bentley thanks to them.
The GOP retirement plan is a gun and a magazine with bullets.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)eliminating social security and medicare/medicaid is at the top of their list as well as outlawing unions and prevailing wage act. Its bad now but it can become much worse.
We have people who see no need for ANY safety net...build more prisons, build debtor prisons, bring back chain gang labor. And to those who can't survive, let them die.
compassionate conservatism
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)trying to gut the ACA and help make it work better, more people would be able to stop work and retire without fearing that their modest incomes would not be enough to take care of them. And if our government, especially the GOP, would help get decent jobs bills passed with good protections for workers and stop trying to bust up unions and hold wages down, more young folks could get jobs and contribute to the economy and government revenues. Selfishness is short-sighted for the nation. But the wealthy just don't give a damn....they don't have to work.
KG
(28,751 posts)fortunately, i guess, it would be sitting at a desk rather than physical labor.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)They "LOVE THEIR COUNTRY" while hating 93% of the people in it.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Alkene
(752 posts)I've never assumed otherwise for myself.
My assumption has long been that I'll work until I'm too sick to function, use up what little savings I've managed on a few weeks' groceries, languish in a cardboard box under the freeway until I die from exposure and malnutrition at which point I'll become fodder for the rats, crows and raccoons.
Not much of a retirement plan, but as a citizen of the greatest, most exceptional nation in the history of the world, it will have been an honor and a privilege to have worked all my life so my superiors could have nice lives with nice things in nice neighborhoods. Seriously. An honor.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)is thrilled to be able to find some part-time low wage work.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts). . .. from a sane and working social contract to re-branded Feudalism, which helps nobody but 5,000 people and needs to go the way of the dodo and FAST.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Stop talking about 2016.
FatBuddy
(376 posts)had this shit all mapped out from the jump.
they knew exactly what they were doing.
the Great American Fire Sale proceeds full throttle.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)GOPSTRUCTIONSITS WHO WANT TO PUT US ALL IN CAMPS"
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)I love my job. I love mentoring people. I love making a positive impact on people's lives. I have no intention of ever walking away from that unless my health dictates otherwise.
The Wielding Truth
(11,415 posts)jobs don't pay enough ? Without SS and medicare we well see our economy flatten. We will all suffer.
Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)My preference is to retire when I want to, not when I am forced to. I consider myself fortunate. I have developed myself into an expert in my field and still continue to increase my value every year. At a time when my peers are losing ground, I am not.
But I understand that I am an exception, not the rule. I agree completely with your point of view.