It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

by Pa Rock

As I have written previously in this forum, I have expended quite a bit of effort in making sure that I have enough of a retirement plan to keep myself from being a burden on my children. To achieve that goal I have made it through life without ever owning a new home, and only once buying a new car (a 1976 Chevrolet Chevette with a sticker price of $2,900). The jobs I have held have never been on the high end of the economic spectrum, but they have always been satisfying to me and of service and benefit to others – and they have always had some form of retirement option.

I am currently drawing one retirement check while working full-time. By the time that I am sixty-six (which gets closer every day) I will be eligible to receive four retirement checks each and every month. In addition to that, I have a 401-K that I have contributed to off and on for years.

Let me tell you about that 401-K:

First of all, it has quite a few options, but they are all based in the stock market. A year ago this month my plan hit a high-water mark of $30,000 (not much, but I do have four back-up retirement checks). Today that fund is down to just over $23,000 and still heading south. This past Monday when the Dow dropped over 500 points, I lost twenty cents less than $666 in value in my 401-K. (Was that a message from God, or what? I’ve got to quit injecting my views on religion into this blog!) Yesterday, the stock market went up a little, but I must have the wrong stocks in my 401-K because it continued to fall. Today was another big loser on Wall Street.

At some point my 401-K may extinguish itself. I hope not. I trust that my government will, sooner or later, begin making wise economic decisions that aren’t based solely on the protection of privilege, and the stock market will recover. But if that doesn’t happen and my 401-K ends up with a zero balance – I still have my four retirement checks – one of which will be Social Security.

Most people in the United States will eventually qualify for a Social Security check of some amount. It was originally meant to give the elderly a way to live on their own without being a burden to their family or being carted off to one of the numerous poor farms that were prevalent before and during the Great Depression. Today, however, the checks are generally too small to guarantee independence to the elderly. They require another source of income, such as a retirement check. And most companies have either raided their retirement funds before declaring bankruptcy, or they have gone with the far cheaper option of contributing a low level of matching funds to a 401-K.

And what happened to the value of those 401-K’s? (See above!)

What does Dear Leader want to do to improve the Social Security system? Why, allow individuals to invest “their” money in the stock market? And what does John McBush want to do to improve Social Security? He supports privatizing it – putting that money under the control of our trained business class? Or perhaps Halliburton!

Our 401-K’s are going down the toilet now because of the greed and corruption of America’s world-class business leaders. Do we really want to give them access to our Social Security funds also?

If you two goobers (Bush and McBush) want to help the elderly to have an independent and secure life, force businesses to redistribute their wealth. Corporate America needs a whole lot less money for the CEO’s and Board Members, and decent wages and benefits (including health and retirement plans) for the people at the bottom of the food chain who are actually doing the work that produces America’s wealth! If the government has money to throw away, such as on subsidies to Bear Stearnes, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, why not redirect it into subsidies for good companies who are willing to treat their employees like human beings?

And keep your grubby hands off of Social Security!

Basic Rights

While I’m not technically a member of the investor class, I do own shares of some mutual funds through a 401-K. My holdings are modest and currently disappearing faster than Bill Clinton’s folksy charm. The experience of having a 401-K, however, has been profitable in one important respect: I am learning how the stock market works, and to some extent how the American economy functions.

I check my stats every morning and occasionally shift resources from one fund to another. So far I have made good moves, but, alas, it is very difficult to swim against the tide in a rapidly declining economy. My plan is to get into as good of a situation as possible and wait out this “economic downturn.”

Fortunately, as someone who will be sixty in a couple of months, I have more to sustain me in my golden years than this diminishing account. I have four separate retirements (Missouri Teachers, Missouri Government Employees, Federal Employees, and Social Security) that kick in at ages sixty, sixty-two, sixty-four, and sixty-six, respectively. With those incomes, I should be able to manage my years of retirement in some degree of comfort while avoiding Alpo casseroles. It is lucky for me that I am not dependent on that 401-K!

But many others in my generation (Baby Boomer and Proud!) are not so lucky. We were here to bear witness to America’s industrial apex, and since then have been forced to stand by in relative powerlessness as those business giants raided pension funds and cut “guaranteed” retiree benefits. Many companies also found ways to eliminate employee benefits including health insurance. So, as the old saw goes, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

A big result of all of this corporate greed and thievery is that a lot of people are on the verge of retirement with a 401-K (if they are lucky) and social security. The 401-K is melting, and a certain stripe of American politicians are angling to de-fund social security by letting participants opt to put their contributions in the stock market – to “manage” their own retirements. Unstated, of course, is the notion that those contributors, many of whom have already been raped by corporate America, will now be ponying up their last hope for financial security and trusting it to the good people who stole and sold their hopes in the first place.

Health insurance should be a right, and people like my son shouldn’t have to put his life at risk while he struggles to find a way to pay for major medical treatment. Everyone should have a right to a secure and safe old age. Politicians need to be kept away from the social security accounts, and everyone should pay a percentage of their total income and profits into the system – with no caps to reward the ultra-rich.

Why must we always rally to defend privilege? Why must we always denigrate those in need? America should be a better place than that.