Prose Before Hos

Stealing A Pizza Worse Than Stealing $1 Billion?

Posted on August 23, 2012 in Videos

Welcome to the United States of Corporatocracy, my friends.

Controlling Internet Speech

Posted on August 23, 2012 in Political Cartoons

America’s Failed Retirement System

Posted on August 23, 2012 in Articles

The Article: Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement by Teresa Ghilarducci in the New York Times.

The Text: I work on retirement policy, so friends often want to talk about their own retirement plans and prospects. While I am happy to have these conversations, my friends usually walk away feeling worse — for good reason.

Seventy-five percent of Americans nearing retirement age in 2010 had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts. The specter of downward mobility in retirement is a looming reality for both middle- and higher-income workers. Almost half of middle-class workers, 49 percent, will be poor or near poor in retirement, living on a food budget of about $5 a day.

In my ad hoc retirement talks, I repeatedly hear about the “guy.” This is a for-profit investment adviser, often described as, “I have this guy who is pretty good, he always calls, doesn’t push me into investments.” When I ask how much the “guy” costs, or if the guy has fiduciary loyalty — to the client, not the firm — or if their investments do better than a standard low-fee benchmark, they inevitably don’t know. After hearing about their magical guy, I ask about their “number.”