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


  • 87% of Service Workers in the US South Were Injured on the Job Last Year
    Peoples Dispatch
    87% of Service Workers in the US South Were Injured on the Job Last Year
    12 Apr 2023
    Southern service workers allege that South Carolina’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration discriminates against Black workers.
  • Sub-Imperialism and Multipolarity: Brazil’s Dilemma
    Justin Podur
    Sub-Imperialism and Multipolarity: Brazil’s Dilemma
    12 Apr 2023
    Brazil is an example of a nation that plays a role in accelerating multipolarity while simultaneously taking part in sub-imperialist acts of aggression.
  • The U.S. Pushes Kiev Into a Suicidal Military Counter Offensive As the Country Scrambles to Launch Its Vital Grain Growing Season
    Dmitriy Kovalevich
    The U.S. Pushes Kiev Into a Suicidal Military Counter Offensive As the Country Scrambles to Launch Its Vital Grain Growing Season
    12 Apr 2023
    U.S. imperialism demands a fight until the last Ukrainian. The proxy war continues to devastate the people of Ukraine.
  • Black Agenda Radio April 7, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 7, 2023
    07 Apr 2023
    In this segment, we have special coverage of the recent launch of the Black Alliance for Peace Zone of Peace campaign.
  • Margaret Kimberley Remarks at Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Margaret Kimberley Remarks at Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit
    07 Apr 2023
    Margaret Kimberley gave the keynote address at the Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us