How America's Retirement Crisis Is Crushing the Hopes of a Generation of Young People

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/how-americas-retirement-crisis-crushing-hopes-generation-young-people



The crucially important but largely missing context of today's debate over so-called “entitlement reform” (read: slashing Social Security benefits and shifting more healthcare costs onto seniors) is that we stand at the early stages of what's shaping up to be a massively painful retirement crisis.

And while there has been a longterm project among granny-bashing “entitlement reformers” to fuel a sort of intergenerational class warfare by accusing "greedy geezers" of hurting young people's prospects, the reality is that this growing retirement crisis is hurting not only older workers and retirees, but also the newest entrants into the workforce, a generation of young Americans whose prospects are far bleaker than those enjoyed by their parents.

If you're nearing retirement age – or have a parent or grandparent nearing retirement age – you're no doubt aware of how 40 years of stagnant middle-class wages and the disastrous shift from traditional pensions to 401(k)-type plans has made a dignified retirement all but impossible for all but the very well-to-do. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the share of private sector workers responsible for their own retirement savings increased nearly four-fold between 1980 and 2008 ( PDF).

This trend has been an integral part of what Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker called the “ great risk-shift,” in which the burden of paying for education, healthcare and retirement has been increasingly shifted from corporations and the government onto the backs of individuals and families. This graphic from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities tells the tale:

[WinkyDink]

1. I'd read the article, but I'm too busy getting my ice-floe ready.

IT'S NOT A "RETIREMENT CRISIS"; IT'S A NON-TAXATION OF THE SUPER-WEALTHY CRISIS.

IT'S A MASSIVE PENTAGON BUDGET CRISIS.

IT'S AN ILLEGAL SERIES OF INVASIONS CRISIS.

IT'S THOSE "LOST TRILLIONS" OF RUMSFELD ON 9/10/01 CRISIS. (EVERYBODY FORGETS THIS CONVEEENIENT ONE.)

IT'S A LET MANUFACTURING JOBS LEAVE THE COUNTRY CRISIS.

Don't get me started.

[Laelth]

2. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Skidmore]

3. So how close are you to advocating that your parents and

grandparents be abandoned trailside with a handful of berries and a little water?

[LiberalEsto]

4. How America's corporate "jobs crisis" is crushing the hopes of would-be retiress

Unfortunately there are two sides to this coin.

There are parents of adult children who are stuck paying their kids' student loans instead of saving money for retirement, because their kids can't find decent-paying jobs.

My husband and I may be stuck with paying our daughters' loans for the rest of our lives. These are the rotten private student loans that were pushed in the early 2000s when other loan money dried up. Thanks to Congress and the big banks, these private loans cannot be discharged upon death or bankruptcy.