As Obama likes to call it. Because if a downturn happens when you want to retire, what do you do? Assuming thieving brokers haven't eaten your money, of course. AP:
Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months, Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday. The upheaval that has engulfed the financial industry and sent the stock market plummeting is devastating workers' savings, forcing people to hold off on major purchases and consider delaying their retirement, said Peter Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office.
Orszag indicated the fear is well-founded. Public and private pension funds and employees' private retirement savings accounts — like 401(k)'s — have lost some 20 percent overall since mid-2007, he estimated. Private retirement plans may have suffered slightly more because those holdings are more heavily skewed toward stocks, Orszag added.
"Some people will delay their retirement. In particular, those on the verge of retirement may decide they can no longer afford to retire and will continue working," Orszag said.
Thank God we never privatized Social Security! Then we'd all be totally fucked.
Work harder, little people! The infestment bankers need your money!
And you should be grateful to give it to them!
NTE
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Young people wouldn't be f*ck'd
At least not in the immediate future.
It would be nice if we had a Democratic leader forcefully enumerating core Democratic principles and how it would help during our current woes rather than, say playing intergenerational politics. OK, so Hillary did that sort of thing, but she's an evil dominionist woman who deserves no credibility.
well, now that the market has "corrected" itself....
its the perfect time to privatize social security! /snark
on saturday, I told my mother to call her stockbroker and tell him to sell everything, and put the money into short term CDs. I doubt she took my advice -- and her stocks have lost close to 10% of their value as a result.