A Rigged Economy

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

27 August 15

eventy-seven million boomers are within sight of retirement – and most don’t have nearly what they’ll need for retirement. Social Security covers a decreasing portion. They haven’t been able to save because their real wages have flattened over their lifetimes and the Great Recession drained whatever savings they had.

Right-wingers want to make this a generational battle between boomers and Millennials – the same “divide-and-conquer” strategy the right has used over race, ethnicity, the middle class and the poor, unionized versus non-unionized, public employee versus private employee.

But the real problem is a rigged economy that for decades has siphoned off almost all economic gains to the top. Forty years ago defined benefits were the normal pension. Twenty years ago, defined contributions were the norm. Now it’s do-it-yourself.

I’m speaking today to the National Conference on Employee Retirement Systems, and including their report below.