Monday, December 17, 2012 - 11:06 a.m.
In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for Americans to plan for their financial future. The decline of pensions, collapse in home prices and a volatile stock market have created a precarious economy. And this uncertainty has increased demand for financial planners who can make sense of it all. But advice to save more and spend less, and maximize individual retirement accounts has failed to take hold. Three-quarters of Americans have saved just $25,000 for retirement. And nearly half of us now live paycheck-to-paycheck, making it more difficult to save. Diane and a panel of experts discuss planning for your financial future in uncertain times.
Guests
Knight Kiplinger
editor and chief of the "Kiplinger Letter" and "Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine."
Tim Maurer
certified financial planner at Financial Consulate and co-author of "The Ultimate Financial Plan: Balancing Your Money and Life."
Helaine Olen
journalist and author of "Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry."
***
Greetings,
My Dad was born in 1912, a "charter member" of "The Greatest Generation."
That generation understood that "the industrialization of America" was a joint project of labor and capital, and that once America was "built up," the fruits of our "industrial automaton" would be shared by "capital" and "labor."
Instead, the wool was pulled over our eyes by the plutocrats who ran off with "the fruits of Labor."
In addition to frugality and personal responsibility, we need a "Social Contract" that shares those fruits.
Our situation comes clear when we consider the following comment made by Reagan Budget Director, David Stockman, during a "60 Minutes" interview with Leslie Stahl.
“In 1985, the top five percent of the households – the wealthiest five percent – had net worth of $8 trillion – which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five per cent have net worth of $40 trillion. The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980.” Elsewhere in this same CBS “60 Minutes” interview, Mr. Stockman describes America's obsession with tax cuts as "religion, something embedded in the catechism," "rank demagoguery, we should call it what it is," and "We've demonized taxes. We've created... the idea that they're a metaphysical evil." And finally, this encompassing observation: "The Republican Party, as much as it pains me to say this, should be ashamed of themselves." - http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7009217n&tag=contentMain;contentAux
Thank you.
Alan Archibald
225 West Margaret Lane
Hillsborough, NC 27278
919-644-1364 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 919-644-1364 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
No comments:
Post a Comment