Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

Post by hx87 » Thu, Jan 05, 2017, 10:48 PM UTC

awinder wrote: post #188

NoGravitas wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. The history of the US in the past several decades suggests that yes, we absolutely are going to let these people live in abject poverty. Unfortunately.

The downstream effects on consumer spending would absolutely result in this being fixed. The alternative is large numbers of people going bankrupt and that's going to hit several sacred cows in this country, particularly housing. There's lots of reasons that I'm damn near convinced that SS will still be around, principally that the gap is actually not that bad if it's dealt with in advance so that the trust funds can…

Post by anigbrowl » Thu, Jan 05, 2017, 10:51 PM UTC

hsitz wrote: post #349

baddox wrote: post #177

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In fact, I will argue that the commenter's attitude is MORE harmful. He or she is placing the responsibility on the individual, when this clearly is something where the individual has no authority. The notion that if you just vote REALLY HARD the people in power will treat you well, and that if you're not treated well you must not have voted hard enough, only helps maintain the status quo.

Haven't you ever heard that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? There's a reason the Christian right has a political voice far out of proportion to their actual numbers: they're active and loud. No, of course the answer isn't to "vote really hard", but that phrasing is simply rhetoric built to disparage the poster you're responding to. Everyone has only one vote. But the people who make noise, the people who are pol…

Post by jessaustin » Thu, Jan 05, 2017, 10:56 PM UTC

vkou wrote: post #335

readams wrote: post #252

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The trust fund is an accounting fiction. Social Security is paid out entirely by proceeds from people paying into the system. If ever the number of new people paying in is not enough to cover the outflows, then the system collapses. That is how a Ponzi scheme works.

Or, the inflows are increased, or the outflows are decreased. All of which can be done with a stroke of a pen. If, for instance, we get rid of the contribution cap tomorrow, Social Security becomes 100% funded - in perpetuity. Madoff was in no position to do so. Congress is.

Post by hx87 » Thu, Jan 05, 2017, 10:56 PM UTC

kmicklas wrote: post #359

RobertoG wrote: post #134

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I suppose that what surprise me is the contradiction between the optimism about the future of HN crowd and their pessimism in this issue, as if nothing could be done (in the case that you think something should be done, of course). The inequality thing is far from unavoidable. In a democracy, at least, a society perceived as more fair for the majority should be attainable.

> The inequality thing is far from unavoidable. In a democracy, at least, a society perceived as more fair for the majority should be attainable. This is a nice thought in theory, but not really true as long as campaigns themselves are funded by private capital. And any attempt to change that leads to private capital ( cough Koch brothers cough ) funding candidates to stop it. I'm not super optimistic this will chang…

Post by jessaustin » Thu, Jan 05, 2017, 11:00 PM UTC

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #220

NoGravitas wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. The history of the US in the past several decades suggests that yes, we absolutely are going to let these people live in abject poverty. Unfortunately.

The history of the human race suggests that "letting" these people live in abject poverty will result in their "letting" a bunch of government buildings explode, whereas paying them the Social Security we owe them will not.