Skip to content

Retirement

Social Security Trustees Report Shows We Should Expand Retirement Benefits

June 7, 2018 By Monique Morrissey, Epi.org ,
There’s no real news in the Social Security trustees report released this afternoon. We’re now a year closer to the date the trust fund will be exhausted, 2034 (same as last year’s projection), at which point current revenues will still be sufficient to cover 77 percent of benefits even if nothing is done to shore up the system’s finances. Each year, the release of the trustees report provides an occasion for Social Security scaremongering by those wanting to shrink our social insurance system. But not only can we afford current benefits, we can afford to expand them. The average retired worker beneficiary receives an annual benefit of $16,933. Disability and survivor benefits are even more modest.

Almost Half Of Americans Die Nearly Broke

June 5, 2017 Maurie Backman, www.usatoday.com , ,
By Maurie Backman for USA Today - In a recent GoBankingRates study, 69% of adults admitted to having less than $1,000 in the bank, while 34% said they actually don't have any savings at all. But apparently, this collective lack of savings doesn't get all that much better with age. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found not so long ago that almost half of Americans die nearly broke. Of the general population, 46% of retirees die with savings of $10,000 or less. But that number climbs to 57% among retirees who are single. Now when we take other assets, like homes, into account, the picture gets a bit less bleak. Still, 57% of single-adult households and 50% of widowed households had no housing equity to show for when they died. The problem is that dying nearly broke isn't just a matter of denying one's beneficiaries an inheritance. Rather, it points to a frightening degree of financial vulnerability during retirement. If seniors are passing without much in the way of assets, it means that in the years leading up to their death, they're ill equipped to handle a major unexpected expense, such as a significant medical bill. In fact, in that same GoBankingRates survey, only 37% of seniors 65 and older claimed to have $1,000 or more in the bank.

Brazil Paralyzed By Nationwide Strike Against Corruption & Impunity

April 30, 2017 Glenn Greenwald, www.theintercept.com , , , , , ,
By Glenn Greenwald for the Intercept. It’s almost impossible to imagine a presidency imploding more completely and rapidly than the unelected one imposed by elites on the Brazilian population in the wake of Dilma’s impeachment. The disgust validly generated by all of these failures finally exploded this week. A nationwide strike, and tumultuous protests in numerous cities, today has paralyzed much of the country, shutting roads, airports and schools. It is the largest strike to hit Brazil in at least two decades. The protests were largely peaceful, but some random violence emerged. The proximate cause of the anger is a set of “reforms” that the Temer government is ushering in that will limit the rights of workers, raise their retirement age by several years, and cut various pension and social security benefits. These austerity measures are being imposed at a time of great suffering, with the unemployment rate rising dramatically and social improvements of the last decade, which raised millions of people out of poverty, unravelling. As the New York Times put it today: “The strike revealed deep fissures in Brazilian society over Mr. Temer’s government and its policies.”

Trump’s ‘Jobs Czar’ Defeats Workers After 105 Day Strike

February 26, 2017 Dominic Rushe and Tom Pietrasik, www.theguardian.com , , ,
By Dominic Rushe and Tom Pietrasik for the Guardian. Momentive’s workers are not alone in their grievances. In 2016 dollars, the average hourly wage of a high school educated worker was $18.29 in 1973, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Last year it was $17.25. Ignoring minor bumps and dips, it’s fair to say that a quarter of the US workforce (those with no more than high school education) have seen their wages barely keep up with inflation for more than 40 years – a period that enjoyed decades of spectacular economic growth, particularly for the top 1%. Chatting over a beer after a day on the lines, Benny Patrignani, Dominick’s brother, says he has hope that Trump will bring change. “Both parties are so busy hitting each other, they haven’t been interested in us,” he says. The choice, he said, was: “Do you want to die by drowning or die by fire?”

Retirement Divide: 100 CEOs V. The Rest Of Us

December 19, 2016 Sarah Anderson, www.ips-dc.org , , , ,
By Sarah Anderson for IPS - If President-elect Donald Trump succeeds in cutting the top marginal tax rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, Fortune 500 CEOs would save $196 million on the income taxes they would owe if they withdrew their tax-deferred funds. Unlike ordinary 401(k) holders, most top CEOs have no limits on annual contributions to their tax-deferred accounts. In 2015 alone, Fortune 500 CEOs saved $92 million on their taxes by putting $238 million more in these accounts than they could have if they were subject to the same rules as other workers.

Retirees Win Round One

June 2, 2016 Alexandra Bradbury, www.labornotes.org ,
By Alexandra Bradbury for Labor Notes - Who could have predicted a year ago, as Congress-sanctioned pension cutsgathered momentum, that thousands of retired truckers self-organizing in diners and union halls across Middle America would manage to apply the brakes? “We’ve taken just normal, everyday grandmothers and grandfathers, and we’ve made citizen lobbyists out of them,” said Wes Epperson, a retired member of Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, “and it’s been because of necessity.”

Sharing Economy Will Screw, Real Problem Retirement

May 19, 2016 Steven Hill, www.alternet.org , ,
By Steven Hill for Beacon Press - Meet Howard and Jean, an older couple I know, who like so many Americans of the “greatest generation” plugged into the New Deal world that promised a secure lunch pail for the middle class. Howard is a World War II veteran who became a mechanic; when he was younger he worked on automobiles for a local Chevy dealership, and then on commercial airliners for United Airlines out at the airport. Jean was a housewife and part-time sales clerk.

The Reality Of Retirement Inequality In The United States

May 7, 2016 Ben Steverman, www.bloomberg.com , ,
By Ben Steverman for Bloomberg - Since voluntary savings plans led by 401(k)s have largely replaced traditional pensions, it’s probably no surprise that this is the best of times for many highly paid workers. Equally unsurprising is that this is the worst of times for almost everyone else, especially the 42 percent (PDF) of workers who don’t have access to a work-sponsored plan. The stunner is just how much the luckiest among us will outpace the unluckiest on retirement day: eleven times as much.

Retirement Co-op Ensures Seniors Aren’t Treated As Commodities

March 27, 2016 Sophie Chapelle, www.truthout.org , ,
By Sophie Chapelle (translated by Leslie Thatcher) for Truthout. Lyon, France - They didn't want to end up in a traditional retirement home. They wanted to remain the actors in their own lives. Seven years after their first discussions about how to age well, a group of retired people is starting to build the first co-op for the aging. Non-speculation, democracy and environmental concern are the foundations of the "Chamarel-Les Barges" project, located in a neighborhood of Vaulx-en-Velin, east of Lyon, France. The project is so inspiring that the bank has even conferred a 50-year loan to the founders, who are in their 60s. The rendezvous was set for the 15th floor in a Vaulx-en-Velin apartment building in the suburbs of Lyon. That's the location for the headquarters of the Chamarel Association (also known as the Residents' Cooperative Housing Residence of East Lyonnais) created in 2010, prompted by the first French co-op for older people.

CEOs Have As Much In Retirement Assets As 41% Of American Families

November 4, 2015 Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger, www.ips-dc.org , ,
By Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger for IPS - (Washington, D.C.) A just-released report by the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies, A Tale of Two Retirements, is the first to provide detailed statistics on the staggering gap between the retirement assets of Fortune 500 CEOs and the rest of America. The report’s major finding: just 100 CEOs have as much in their company retirement assets as the entire retirement savings of 41 percent of American families (50 million families total). The report comes on the heels of a Social Security Administration announcement that beneficiaries will not receive a cost of living increase in 2016.

A Tale Of Two Retirements

October 31, 2015 Scott Klinger and Sarah Anderson, www.ips-dc.org , , ,
By Scott Klinger and Sarah Anderson for IPS - This report, co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for Effective Government, is the first to provide detailed statistics on the staggering gap between the retirement assets of Fortune 500 CEOs and the rest of America. Key findings: The company-sponsored retirement assets of just 100 CEOs add up to as much as the entire retirement account savings of 41% of American families (50 million families in total). The 100 largest CEO retirement accounts are worth an average of more than $49.3 million—enough to generate a $277,686 monthly retirement check for each executive for the rest of their lives.

Landslide Votes: Detroit Workers/Retirees Approve Pension Cuts

July 22, 2014 Ed White, www.AP.org , , ,
Pension cuts were approved in a landslide, according to results filed shortly before midnight Monday. The tally from 60 days of voting gives the city a boost as Judge Steven Rhodes determines whether Detroit's overall strategy to eliminate or reduce $18 billion in long-term debt is fair and feasible to all creditors. General retirees would get a 4.5 percent pension cut and lose annual inflation adjustments. They accepted the changes with 73 percent of ballots in favor. Retired police officers and firefighters would lose only a portion of their annual cost-of-living raise. Eighty-two percent in that class voted "yes."

Another Privatization Plan For Social Security

June 24, 2014 Richard Eskow, www.ourfuture.org , ,
For months there have been rumors that the Social Security Administration has a “secret plan” to close all of its field offices. Is it true? A little-known report commissioned by the SSA the request of Congress seems to hold the answer. The summary document outlining the plan, which is labeled “for internal use only,” is unavailable from the SSA but can be found here. Does the document, entitled “Long Term Strategic Vision and Vision Elements,” really propose shuttering all field offices? The answer, buried beneath a barrage of obfuscatory consultantese, clearly seems to be “yes.” Worse, the report also suggests that many of the SSA’s critical functions could soon be outsourced to private-sector partners and contractors. Here are five insights from this austerity-minded outline.

The Battle For Social Security Is Not Over

March 23, 2014 Steven Rosenfeld, www.alternet.org , ,
Progressive organizersand blue-leaning media have been declaring victory because the Obama White House has dropped its push for using a new cost-of-living formula that would cut into future increases in monthly Social Security benefits. Articles such this detailed retelling from In These Times proclaim that Social Security was "saved,” when in fact, the formula for future Social Security benefits is unchanged, and is still insufficient for the retiring baby boom generation. Meanwhile, glee over the White House’s reversal eclipses the harsh truth that Obama’s proposed 2015 budget would raise out-of-pocket costs for 50 million seniors—saving the government $60 billion—starting in 2018 by increasing Medicare deductibles, co-pays and premiums, and adding a surcharge if people buy supplemental insurance coverage.

900 Weathiest Finished Paying Social Security Tax On Jan 2

January 5, 2014 Staff, www.rt.com , , ,
A small, elite group of US citizens has already met their 2014 financial obligation for Social Security two days into the New Year, and will no longer be required to contribute any of their income to the federal program. Nearly all working Americans will continue to pay the social security tax through the duration of 2014. The 900 wealthiest, however, have fulfilled their responsibility for the whole year on Thursday by earning $117,000 – the maximum total social security is allowed to take from an individual income each year - on the first and second days of the month. Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at the New School for Social Research, wrote that if everyone eligible paid all year long, “the Social security system would be solvent indefinitely and they still would be the richest and prettiest in all the land.”
«123»
assetto corsa mods

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.