“We saw in the 1980s a shift from pensions to 401(k)s; that was a raw deal for workers. These retirement plans were marketed as an instrument of financial freedom, but they were really transferring risk from the shoulder of the employers to the backs of the workers.”
There is absolutely no reason for an employer to provide for your retirement. I’m just upset that Social Security was not voluntary, because had I been able to invest that money in a 401K I would have retired rich.
What I do object to is public employees getting fully indexed retirements with little or no personal contributions, and the ability to retire with full pensions before age 65 (here in CA cops and FFs get full retirement at age 50).
Oh, I hear ya. And to make it worse, the Feds cover pensions that private companies couldn’t cover via the government backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.