Patch

Retirement


Thinking of Retirement????

I just finished listening to a talking head on why we need private accounts for retirement, that we need x amount of savings to ensure a decent retirement and of course only the market can do this. Now I have watched my father’s generation (The generation of the depression and World War 2.) retire on defined company retirement plans, Social Security, and savings, and most have (had) more then a decent retirement. They retired in their own homes, close to their family and friends and were for the most part very happy. (Some complained that retirement was too much work.) Now I’m being told this is not possible. WHY??? What has changed that this is not possible? Social Security, anyone that takes a honest look at S.S. knows it can be funded relatively easy and it makes a solid and secure base for retirement. Company plans, change the laws back making companies fund and administer their plans properly to the benefit of retirees not the company.

I’ve said before and I’ll say again, if private accounts in the stock market are so good, then let’s change the law and put the S.S. trust fund into it. Lets also make our government start paying back the money borrowed from S.S. (This what politicians mean making our children pay for what we do today.) Company plans are invested and will provide the defined befit if administered correctly.

I grew up with the great god of compound interest driven into my brain and now we are having the great god of the “market “ being preached and I say bullsh**. The market is for people with money. Middleclass and lower Americans are making less money every year, they don’t have enough money to put into the market to produce the needed results. How much money can a Wall Mart employee put into the Market? Middle class America is slowly being eliminated, some of their wealth is trickling down to more and more people, but most of it is rising up to fewer and fewer people.

I think this trend will continue for a good many years yet and will continue until we take our government back from the corporations. We need protection from both multi-national corporations and Wall Street, if our government can’t provide this protection, who will?

Watch the market, a large multi-national corporation lays off 10.000 middle class jobs (Jobs that a person can raise a family on, one that can buy a home or a new car, jobs that can keep our economy running on.) and that company’s stock price goes up,(WTF) who benefits, who loses? Our government signs WTO,NAFTA, CAFTA and who knows what else, again who benefits? You’re 50 yrs. old and get laid off and the stock market goes up 100 points, this make you happy, this pay your bills, this send your child to collage? Retrain they say, retrain too What???

Patches