401Ks are a disaster: Column

[HughBeaumont]

130. Uh, if anyone's missing America's real problem by a country mile, it sure isn't me.

If you want to scold America as a whole for their supposed spendthrift “ring-up-the-credit-card” ways, that just seems like a shortcut to thinking. Senator Elizabeth Warren, author of The Two-Income Trap put the kibosh on this long-believed canard in a Harvard series lecture found on YouTube:

We’re not getting hit because we’re buying too many unnecessary gadgets. Quite the opposite, actually; the price of many entertainment items/gadgets has gone down relative to inflation (which is why the right-wing talking point of “well yer not poor . . . yew have a DVD player, dontcha?” falls flat on it’s fat face).

The areas we’re getting hit on are housing, education, transportation, health care, groceries, etc. The price of necessities are glacially getting well out of reach of even the American middle class, much less the working class and poor.

In 1969, the price of an average home was 1.5 to 2 times the average household income. Think you'll find that sort of cushy ratio today? Unless you want a life of stocking shelves or “you want fries with that” jobs (not saying that’s a BAD thing if that is your thing, but it ain’t paying the rent), you NEED a college education just to even get your foot in the door to continue consuming and contributing economically and in turn, for companies to continue producing. The persons running that racket are no better than profiteering oil barons. What if you get sick? You think any American has a couple-hundred grand to pay for the bills?

What I’m trying to get at is that in all your finger-wagging towards the American people, you’re giving a complete free pass to those patently responsible for putting us ALL in this situation – the wealthy and 28 years of Republican/moderate administrations buoying them.

America's middle/working/poor people didn’t send their jobs overseas; they're the ones who saw their real-dollar wages stagnate relative to inflation and productivity since 1979. They also weren't the ones who experienced a 285 to 1000% increase in their income since 1990 (depending on which part of the upper 5% you belong to). The American people don’t have the capability of starting new industries or even inventing anything anymore; they don’t have the start-up capital, equipment or expensive attorneys necessary when a corporation tries to overtake them or sue them. America's workers didn’t shift the responsibility of paying the bulk of taxes from the rich on to themselves. America's people aren’t being forced from their homes due to an unforeseen amount of bad luck or a major illness. We're not the ones building these McCastles because there's a bigger profit to be made on these things compared to reasonable homes; many middle/working/poor classes, depending on their debt situation, can only buy a two-bedroom apartment or older house.

Why not any criticism towards bank underwriters who should be barring the middle class from any mortgage going over 35% of their total income? Why not any criticism towards the business leaders who look out for their shareholders only and show no responsibility towards the nation that provided them the paths to their wealth? Why not any criticism towards manufacturers who CAUSED the “No-Produce-but-you’d-BETTER-Consume!” economy that we have today?

Who gets the blame for our lousy state? Our government for not moving towards universal health care? The wealthy for expecting the world and giving nothing at all back? Universities for promoting the idea of college education while at the same time pricing 65% of the country OUT of one? The wealthy, again, for expecting us to make in the $40,000/year range forever and expecting us to survive on that while the cost of nearly everything is skyrocketing? Three Republican Presidents who ran 70% of our current national debt up for vanity wars of choice and enriching those who least need to be? Or the consumer wanting a 52 inch TV when his pocket can’t even afford an iPod?

What I'M saying is stop blaming the American people and give credit where credit is due, please. Stagnant wages vs. vaulting costs is the problem. Risk shifting from the rich to the middle/working/poor classes over the past 30 years is the problem. WE are not the lion's share of the problem. It’s the wealthy that need to start playing ball. We’ve sacrificed ENOUGH.

Americans can't put away what they don't have because they need to LIVE, not because they want to watch OSU/Michigan on a 3D widescreen. Since when is it now a rule that you have to live like an abject pauper to have a great life in your weak years? Sheesh.