The 401(k) System: Great for Wall Street, Bad for Retirees

[JDPriestly]

13. Finally. I've been saying this over and over and over.

The whole 401(K) thing is an awful idea. Should we be permitted to defer taxes on income if we save?

Yes. But we should have a lot more say and freedom with regard to how, where and in what form we save.

No one says anything about it, but one part of the boom and bust was Wall Street's counting down from the day the 401(K) contributions hit their highest peak to the day that those contributions are going to begin to be withdrawn in huge amounts.

The dot.com and housing bubbles followed the cycle. Baby boomers are not beginning to retire. Wall Street will not have their money to play around with any more -- at least not in such large quantities.

The baby boomers get blamed for a lot. It is their parents -- that "Greatest Generation" that is responsible for the sudden burst of births and the demographic bubble that has led to a lot of strange events in our economy and our society.

Think about it -- overcrowded schools in the 1950s and 1960s, the Hippie movement, rampant drug use, Yuppies drunk on consumption of consumer goods, ignorantly and naively "investing" in huge houses, in their own businesses at a time when small businesses are being drowned by politically well connected corporations, and now trusting that the money they "saved" in their 401(K)s is going to be there when they need it.

Look, Baby Boomers, you are the truly lost generation. And your money will be lost too, that is, if Wall Street gets to it first, guys.

What's more, if you fools vote for Rambo Romney . . . . you can even forget about Social Security and Medicare.