Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Those Ever-Shrinking 401Ks and the Theft of Retirement Security
21 Dec 2011
🖨️ Print Article

For most of the 20th century, until the 1980s, each generation of retirees had a somewhat higher standard of living than the last.  With the Reagan era advent of federal policies encouraging private employers to raid and discontinue defined benefit pensions, that trend stopped.  The current generation of retirees are discovering that their 401Ks are almost never sufficient to allow a dignified retirement.  They've been robbed.  401Ks are subject to the stock market, which favors insiders, and financial managers and the retirement-industrial complex extract as much as a quarter of all 401K savings in parasitic fees.  In this Against the Grain interview James Russell explains why Wall Street loves privatized and individual retirement accounts, and hates defined beneift pensions and social security,



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://www.againstthegrain.org/files/files/atg/atg_2014.11.12_401ks.mp3

More Stories


  • Jake Johnston
    Where Does the Money Go? A Look at USAID Spending in Haiti
    12 Feb 2025
    The Trump administration is dismantling USAID, intending to absorb its mission into the State Department. USAID's engagement with Haiti demonstrates the insidious nature of the agency and how…
  • Judi Rever
    Paul Kagame’s Foray in Eastern Congo Leaves Thousands Dead and Sparks Fears of a Broader war
    12 Feb 2025
    Rwanda’s brutal assault on Goma has unleashed more agony for the Congolese, who are already traumatized by three decades of war.
  • Ramzy Baroud
    Politics or Empty Rhetoric? Examining Trump’s Call for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
    12 Feb 2025
    Donald Trump recently made several statements declaring his intent to commit a full-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Gaza Strip. However, this idea, like many others, may be unfeasible and…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio 2.7.2025
    07 Feb 2025
    This week, we speak to a journalist about the recent fires in Los Angeles County that destroyed the lives and homes of many, including a Black community located in Altadena. First, we get an update…
  • Congo protesters
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Turmoil in Congo Creates Public Dispute Between South Africa and Rwanda Presidents
    07 Feb 2025
    Maurice Carney is Executive Director of Friends of the Congo . He joins us from Washington to provide an update on the crisis in Congo. Since he last appeared on Black Agenda Radio the capital city…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us