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


  • Counter-insurgency and Black Studies: An Interview with Tea Troutman
    Tea Troutman , Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    Counter-insurgency and Black Studies: An Interview with Tea Troutman
    30 Aug 2023
    Counter-insurgency and Black Studies: An Interview with Tea Troutman
  • Katrina, Rich Men North Of Richmond, And The Persistent Hatred of Poor People
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Katrina, Rich Men North Of Richmond, And The Persistent Hatred of Poor People
    30 Aug 2023
    The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and a new song are reminders that a strong hatred of the poor continues in the U.S.
  • Challenging Imperialism: Communist Party of Kenya Stands in Solidarity for Justice and Equality with the Haitian People
    Communist Party of Kenya
    Challenging Imperialism: Communist Party of Kenya Stands in Solidarity for Justice and Equality with the Haitian People
    30 Aug 2023
    The Communist Party of Kenya strongly condemns their nation's involvement in the impending occupation of Haiti.
  • No to Blackface imperialism. Yes to Haitian Sovereignty
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    No to Blackface imperialism. Yes to Haitian Sovereignty
    30 Aug 2023
    The plan for the next occupation of Haiti involves Caribbean nations Jamaica and the Bahamas. Even far away Kenya is allowing itself to be used to give cover to a racist attack.
  • Tens of Thousands Pledge to Resist an Imperialist-backed Intervention in Niger
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Tens of Thousands Pledge to Resist an Imperialist-backed Intervention in Niger
    30 Aug 2023
    The U.S. is instigating a regional attack on Niger, but the people of that nation are in solidarity with others who will resist any aggression.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us