Retirement Security: One of Biggest Casualties of Financial Crisis

by via Mike Hall, AFL-CIO

Thu, Oct 9, 2008 7:42AM

Thursday, October 9, 2008 : Fueled by Wall Street greed and Bush-McCain deregulation fever, today's crashing economy, tumbling home prices and stock market nosedive has cost American workers as much as $2 trillion in retirement security savings during the past 15 months.

Yesterday, several witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee that 401(k) plans are taking a tremendous battering that could force many people to work longer and retire poorer.

Said Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.):

Unlike Wall Street executives, American families don’t have a golden parachute to fall back on. It’s clear that Americans’ retirement security may be one of the greatest casualties of this financial crisis.

This is the same stock market in which John McCain wants to dump our Social Security to fulfill his goal of “privatization.”

Traditional defined-benefit pension plans funded by employers also took a big hit, losing about 15 percent of their assets in the past year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

In addition, CBO Director Peter Orzag pointed out:

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For more information: http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/10/08/retireme...

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