What's Being Done To Help Those Of Us Who Have Exhausted Our Unemployment Benefits? Nothing.

[jtuck004]

18. There are several stories out there about how the boomer generation is the first to be less well off

than their parents. The average near retirement family has slightly less than $150,000, and that's only about a third of that cohort. the rest have far less, most closer to $10K. That will be gone in the first year of retirement for many, and then nothing but Social Security, which is under attack as we speak. (That attack will get worse as the group gets larger, btw). And even with $150K in the bank, that is very likely to be gone within the first 5 to 10 years for most people, if they have no other income. Which is why when people are working they keep working. And for many that will be until they die.

The unemployment has dropped, but it is reported as a percentage of the workforce that is unemployed. But 10 million people have dropped off that calculation in the past few years. A small percentage because of age, but the largest percentage because there are no jobs, and after they try for a couple hundred they get tired. There is a page in the unemployment report of those that are "not in the workforce", not reported on the front pages, and there are 6 million people who answer "yes" to the question "do you want full time work" - yet they are not counted even though there really are no places to apply that aren't just going through the motions.

The union vote, where the machinists at Boeing just decided to take that crappy contract, was very much over this same pension issue. They had to give up their defined pension and take on a 401K, and that is going to cost a lot of them more than they know. Not blaming them, because there was a gun to their heads, it's just a fact.

And interest rates are dropping so much that Larry Summers is proposing that banks start charging for savings accounts.

I think we are in for a very interesting next few years, and I don't think most people are really looking hard at the underlying economy. Unless something changes, a lot, it's going to hurt a lot more people.

Don't mean to be down about it, but I deal in reality, and the reality is just not pretty no matter how it is dressed up. I find it a lot easier to deal with that, however, than trying to find some positive spin that keeps people from demanding change.

Good luck!!