If you don’t believe the right wing echo chamber has brain washed the American public just ask
a millennial if Social Security will be there for them! Voting matters and elections have
consequences and the less informed on the issues the electorate is the more likely they will
vote against their own economic and self interests! I am still trying to wrap my head around
the fact that a man like Donald Trump is our commander and chief. The voters have spoke and
now we shall see what comes next. It is never a good idea to give one political party control of
all three branches of our federal government and the future of the Supreme Court. A court
whose rulings will impact our future for decades to come handing down decisions likely to be
anti union which will impact not only retirees and workers but also our children and grand
children.
I don’t consider myself part of a privileged few but my local paper recently ran an article on the
front page titled “ Worry- free retirement is only for a privileged few”. I do agree with the first
line of the article which states “ The American dream of a blissful retirement, free of financial
worries is dying”. The advent of the 401k, IRA defined compensation plans which shifted the
risk and responsibility from the employer to the employee and has lined the pockets of Wall
Street is in my open why the American dream of a financially secure retirement is dying. The
echo chamber which historically has demonized defined benefits as well as Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid is why a worry free retirement is shrinking more and more! This crisis
is the result of a system that’s increasingly put workers in charge of saving for and managing
their own retirement. Because the U.S. households at the top have reaped most of the income
gains over the past decade- and because they have disproportionately more access to
retirement plans to begin with – experts say the gap in retirement savings is only growing
wider. With traditional pensions increasingly becoming extinct, it's grown even more important
for Americans to save. Decades ago, workers could depend on getting a set, monthly check in
their golden years. In 1979, 38 percent of private sector workers were participating in a
traditional pension plan.
By 2013, only 13 percent of private sector workers were participating in a traditional pension,
most of those workers were participating in both a pension and a 401k or similar program.
Nearly all employer-sponsored retirement plans 94 percent are 401k style programs instead of
traditional pensions. I repeat elections have consequences and a uninformed electorate
influenced by a bias echo chamber with an agenda of profits over people will implement
policies which will negatively impact us all!