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


  • Russia-Africa Summit to Reconvene in Ethiopia During November-December
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Russia-Africa Summit to Reconvene in Ethiopia During November-December
    29 Jun 2022
    African nations have not succumbed to US/NATO pressure to condemn Russia. They maintain their sovereign rights by continuing relations with other nations as they see fit.
  • Only 4 of 55 African Leaders Attend Zelensky Call, Showing Neutrality on Ukraine and Russia
    Benjamin Norton
    Only 4 of 55 African Leaders Attend Zelensky Call, Showing Neutrality on Ukraine and Russia
    29 Jun 2022
    France and Germany pressured African Union leaders for months to join a brief Zoom call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. 51 of 55 African heads of state (93%) boycotted the meeting, showing clear…
  • IMF Loans Continue to Undermine Health in Africa
    Dian Maria Blandina
    IMF Loans Continue to Undermine Health in Africa
    29 Jun 2022
    The International Monetary Fund has a long history of insisting on loan conditionalities which are harmful to public services. This practice did not change even during the pandemic, with African…
  • Black Agenda Radio June 24, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 24, 2022
    24 Jun 2022
    Leftist formation wins Colombian presidential election, the effort to end involuntary servitude in U.S. prisons, the impeachment of a Black legislator in Brazil, and the nature of fascism and need…
  • Historical Pact Victory in Colombian Election
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Historical Pact Victory in Colombian Election
    24 Jun 2022
    Ajamu Baraka is National Organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace. He joins us to discuss the recent election results in Colombia where Gustavo Petro, became the new president, and Francia Marquez,…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us