What is causing the U.S. retirement crisis?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/8352

What is causing the U.S. retirement crisis?

Lede: The U.S. retirement crisis is being caused by a shortage or worker political power, not be a lack of corporate cash. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

American workers are facing a pension crisis that could plunge them into retirement poverty. Dave Cohen, of the United Electrical workers says just half of U.S. workers have pension plans. Most of those, are 401k’s that don’t provide nearly enough retirement money. Cohen says workers earn good pensions and corporations have more than enough money to pay for them.

: “The Money is there. We look at ExxonMobil, right, $40 billion profit in a quarter. Corporate America is making lots of money. They don’t want to give it to workers.”

One answer to the pension crisis, Cohen says, is to make Social Security a real retirement system that pays 70 – 80 percent of what workers need to live on in retirement. He says applying the social security tax to all income over $80,000 could make that happen. But workers will have to use their power to make it happen.

: “It’s always the politicians sayin’ it’s not possible. I think people believe it is possible and we have to use our power to make them move in that direction.”

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. YEAH! it's not possible to get my rich campaign donors to

go along with the idea of asking EVERYBODY to share the burden of providing security for old people! Shit! If they were not born to privilege, let em live on cat food! My nanny has to!