Another facet of inequality in the U.S.: Retirement

[groundloop]

Article from CBS News. (I missed the cutoff for late breaking news by 15 minutes and since I have no doubt the thread police would have busted me for the transgression I'm posting here):

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/another-facet-of-inequality-in-the-u-s-retirement/

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are valued at a combined $4.9 billion, or the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American families, according to a new study from the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies. That means that 100 CEOs have more retirement assets socked away than a combined 50 million U.S. families, or more than 116 million people.

Billed by the groups as a "tale of two retirements," the study notes that it's more than the mere size of the CEOs' retirement funds that sets them apart. Chief executives are also awarded special savings plans and tax-deferred accounts that allow them to bypass the limits that apply to most Americans. Such loopholes let CEOs set aside huge sums of money without having to pay taxes, depriving the U.S. Treasury and state coffers of tax revenue, the authors noted.

At the same time, some companies are cutting back on their retirement offerings for the rank-and-file as a way to both cut costs and push risk onto their employees. For instance, several Fortune 500 companies have offered lump-sum pension buyouts to employees in the past few years, trading a one-time payment to workers rather than a guaranteed monthly pension payment. Other companies closed pensions to new hires, or froze benefits.

The findings come at a time when many Americans face a major shortfall in funds for retirement, ranging from their own meager savings -- with the median average 401k balance standing at $18,433 -- to next year's flat Social Security payments. Much of the crisis is framed as a personal failure, with experts directly or implicitly blaming workers for failing to set aside enough for their golden years. That's something Scott Klinger, director of revenue and spending policies at the Center for Effective Government, an advocacy group and think tank, takes issue with.

SO.... 100 CEOs have as much in retirement savings as 116 MILLION Americans. I suppose I'm somewhat lucky in that the value of my 401K is well above the national average, but I still have no clue how I'm ever going to be able to retire. I'll probably have to keep working in some fashion until the day I die.... yeah, that's "golden years" for ya.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Think this total might be a bit light.

Got a hunch there are tens of thousands more out there.

[HughBeaumont]

2. "Much of the crisis is framed as a personal failure"

As people throughout the years find themselves with less and less disposable income (the key ingredient to saving ANY money, let alone for a retirement account) thanks to wage depreciation or layoffs through no fault of their own, and despite tons of data illustrating this fact hundreds of times over, it amazes me that victim blaming continues to pick up swaths of people from each successive generation.

You would think that people would wake up and see that the math just doesn't work in the middle/working/poor classes favor when it comes to a fruitful retirement, but people still fall for this "personal responsibility" and "personal failure" claptrap.