News for today's 2018

Unions speak the truth on Social Security

2:16 PM Tukiyooo 0

Social Security, the program that provides over half of American seniors a majority of their income, is more important than ever. Across America, nearly 58 billion workers and their families rely on Social Security every month to pay the…

Retirement dreams are disappearing

12:44 PM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JyWpEfKoJihiQfrMoGWROGqlNOgv-F59K73yo6n9DIoCv6KX-srC2_NA6hnqeeUzbMvr-eVpYZsIWVRMkvwI6tylAhB5Xkha06b_qpoifJWmKzll9isUfsVBrPqvWTwOFrWMpkiAXITY/s1600/collectivebargaining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JyWpEfKoJihiQfrMoGWROGqlNOgv-F59K73yo6n9DIoCv6KX-srC2_NA6hnqeeUzbMvr-eVpYZsIWVRMkvwI6tylAhB5Xkha06b_qpoifJWmKzll9isUfsVBrPqvWTwOFrWMpkiAXITY/s200/collectivebargaining.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The U.S. has a history of being a hard-working nation, one where people who did their job and followed the rules were rewarded with financial security in their golden years. But as </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/09/US-households-are-now-earning-less-than-in-1989.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">middle-class jobs have slipped away</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> due to the last recession only to be replaced with low-wage opportunities, workers are losing hope about being able to retire. Instead, </span><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-retirement-delayed-20130928,0,7773709,print.story" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">they plan to work longer</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A </span><a href="https://hcexchange.conference-board.org/blog/post.cfm?post=1455" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">report</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">released by The Conference Board earlier this year noted that the number of current workers between ages 45 and 60 now planning to delay retirement grew to 62 percent in 2012, up 20 percent from two years earlier. A reduction in salary as well as job loss were the top reasons for putting off retirement, according to the document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span><a href="http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/are-americans-still-delaying-retirement.html/?a=viewall" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another report</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Gallup showed the average retirement age has increased by four years since 1995, and is expected to grow even more:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Younger Americans are growing more pessimistic about their golden years. The average non-retired American does not expect to retire until the age of 66, compared to 60 in 1995. Furthermore, 37 percent of those polled by Gallup say they expect to retire sometime after the age of 65, up sharply from 22 percent a decade ago and 14 percent in 1995. Meanwhile, only 26 percent say they will likely retire before age 65, down significantly from 49 percent in 1995.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fewer and fewer Americans are contributing to their retirement, and those who do don’t seem to have enough saved anyway. Why is that? Because </span><a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the increased reliance of 401(k) retirement funds has been a disaster</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, The National Memo notes:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Census surveys show that only a third of workers in their twenties have any form of retirement plan at work, compared to 62 percent of workers in their fifties.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But having a retirement plan and actually getting benefits are far from the same. Among all adult workers, only 43 percent say they have a vested right to either their own money they saved or money their employer set aside for them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Betty Schueler, who worked as a bartender and restaurant server for 40 years at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, said she no longer harbors any illusions about retirement after recently losing her job:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Retirement is a word that's no longer in our vocabulary. I will never see that in my lifetime.</span></blockquote></div>

401(k) retirement Retirement dreams are disappearing

The U.S. has a history of being a hard-working nation, one where people who did their job and followed the rules were rewarded with financial security in their golden years. But as middle-class jobs have slipped away due to the last recession only …

Even in retirement, America is more unequal

10:36 AM Tukiyooo 0

Only half of Americans saved more than $2,500 for retirement, <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/retirement-inequality-chartbook/">according to a new study published by the Economic Policy Institute</a>.   Researchers warn that retirement plan “participation has been flat or declining in recent years [when participation should be increasing] as the baby boomers enter their 50s and early 60s, [ages] when participation rates tend to be high.”<br /><br />Households in the top one percent average over $1.3 million in retirement account savings.<br /><br />At the same time, only 45 percent of workers age 26 to 61 added to any sort of retirement plan in 2010.  Ten years ago, 52 percent of the population participated.<br /><br />Shrinking retirement plans are a stark reminder of how few people actually can afford to save for their futures, as workers across all ages are finding it harder to contribute to retirement savings.<br /><br />Even as little as a decade ago, more workers across the board were paid enough that they could plan for the future.<br /><br />Only 36 percent of 26 to 31 year olds had savings for their retirement in 2010.  In 2000, 43 percent did. <br /><br />Almost 60 percent of workers aged 50 to 55 added to pension plans in 2000. A decade later, nine percent fewer workers in the same age group manage to add anything to their retirement savings. <br /><br />And the later workers were born, the less likely they are to actually have significant retirement savings as they grow older. <br /><br />After adjusting for inflation, Americans aged 62 to 67 in 2010 managed to increase their average retirement savings 455 percent over their 1992 counterparts, but the average worker in any age bracket under 44 managed to save just about what a similar worker in 1998 did. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/retirement-inequality-chartbook/">The EPI report notes</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Successive generations should be saving more in retirement accounts due to their higher average incomes, the shift from pensions to individual savings, and Social Security benefit cuts. But while the retirement savings of middle-aged and older households have generally grown, those of younger households have stayed flat or declined in recent years.</blockquote>Just like income itself, who can afford to save for retirement is grossly unequal.  <br /><br />Seventy-two percent of total 2010 retirement savings came from households in the top 20 percent of income, meaning that most tax subsidies for retirement savings go to high-income households, assuming they file their taxes correctly. <br /><br />Even factoring in <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/us-income-inequality-record-high-top-1-earned-fifth-total-income-2012-1404335">record-breaking salaries</a>, the top fifth of paid workers still has a much higher percentage of retirement savings-to-income than any other group and save over 90 percent more than what their 1989 equivalents managed. <br /><br />At least Americans can keep on working for longer, as people are getting older and older.  <a href="http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411964_senior_unemployment.pdf">Unless they actually can’t</a>. <br /><br />

pensions retirement Even in retirement, America is more unequal

Only half of Americans saved more than $2,500 for retirement, according to a new study published by the Economic Policy Institute. Researchers warn that retirement plan “participation has been flat or declining in recent years [when participation s…

16 facts about jobs in America that will make your blood boil

2:03 PM Tukiyooo 0

The unemployment rate is down to <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/09/06/unemployment-rate-drop-for-wrong-reasons/" rel="nofollow">7.3 percent we learned today</a>, but that isn't good news. The reason the jobless rate fell is that more people gave up looking for work.<br /><br />Times are tough for most people in America today, as huge corporations such as Walmart wield inordinate power over their workers. With that power comes union-busting, low wages and dangerous workplaces.<br /><br />In other words, there are hardly any good jobs.<br /><br />We bring you some numbers that illustrate the state of working America today, with special thanks to David Cay Johnstone at <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">The National Memo</a>, Heidi Shierholz at the <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/">Economic Policy Institute</a> and Paul Buchheit at <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/02-0#.UinZRU81MxU.facebook" rel="nofollow">Common Dreams</a>.<br /><ol><li>The <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">labor participation rate</a> -- the percentage of adult Americans with a job or seeking one — is at 63.2 percent, the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">lowest in 35 years</a>.</li><li>There are an average of <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">three unemployed people for each job opening</a>.</li><li>The <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/">unemployment rate is between 1.5 and 1.8 times as high</a> now as it was six years ago for all groups.</li><li>Two-thirds of<a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/"> taxpayers with jobs saved nothing</a> in retirement plans in 2010.</li><li>3.8 million fewer people had<a href="http://3.8%20million%20from%202008%20to%202010/"> jobs</a> in 2010 than in 2008</li><li><a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">Only a third of workers in their twenties have any</a><a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/"> form of retirement plan at work</a>, compared to 62 percent of workers in their fifties.</li><li>75 percent of Americans near retirement in 2010 had an average of less than $30,000 saved for retirement. </li><li>Among all adult workers, only <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">43 percent say they have a vested right to either their own money they saved or money their employer set aside for them</a>.</li><li>Since June 2009, <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/" rel="nofollow">the public sector has lost 754,000 jobs</a>.</li><li>One out of every five American children now <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-05.pdf">lives in poverty</a>.</li><li>Nearly half the births in the United States are paid for by <a href="http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/09/nearly-half-of-births-in-the-u-s-are-covered-by-medicaid-study-finds/" rel="nofollow">Medicaid</a>.</li><li>The number of college grads working for minimum wage has <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/03/30/number-of-the-week-college-grads-in-minimum-wage-jobs/">doubled</a> in just five years.</li><li>College tuition has risen <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/02-0#.UinZRU81MxU.facebook" rel="nofollow">10 times faster than the median family income</a> in the U.S. </li><li>The percentage of Americans aged 75 to 84 <a href="http://the%20percentage%20of%20elderly%20%2875%20to%2084%29%20americans%20experiencing%20poverty%20for%20the%20first%20time%20doubled%20from%202005%20to%202009./" rel="nofollow">falling into poverty</a> for the first time doubled from 2005 to 2009.</li><li>Workers have <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/24befb45b36b626a7a_v2m6iirxb.pdf" rel="nofollow">30 percent less</a> buying power today than they had in 1968.</li><li>Since the 2008 recession, only about <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/12800-living-up-to-the-new-deal-half-the-nation-is-still-waiting">one-fifth</a> of new jobs are going to women.</li></ol><br /><br /><div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div>

economy Jobs retirement wages 16 facts about jobs in America that will make your blood boil

The unemployment rate is down to 7.3 percent we learned today, but that isn't good news. The reason the jobless rate fell is that more people gave up looking for work.Times are tough for most people in America today, as huge corporations such as Walm…

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Unions speak the truth on Social Security

Retirement dreams are disappearing

Even in retirement, America is more unequal

16 facts about jobs in America that will make your blood boil

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