Not sure if any of you noticed, but the market's gone absolutely nuts since my last little missive. When I lamented the federal bailout — and essential socialization — of AIG last week, I remained certain things couldn't get worse.
Yeah, well, my ex-wives will tell you I've been wrong before. But this market uncertainty that's still swirling like Ike has made the dot-com bust look like a burp.
And the feds clearly aren't done interfering. Apparently they think they can fudge numbers better than CEOs, but we'll all have to wait and see — all the while hoping they do as little damage as possible. You know, because the federal government has such a great track record when it comes to that.
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Meanwhile, while everyone fritters and frets over homeowners in over their heads, frayed golden parachutes and, oh yeah, an election, few of the so-called experts are showing any concern for the ones who could end up the biggest losers here: the retirees.
All those fading stocks and disappearing companies have played havoc with 401(k) plans — and, man, if only we'd been able to tie Social Security to the market like Bush wanted all those years ago. According to the latest Employee Benefit Research Institute survey, even before last week's Wall Street shakedown, nearly 40 percent of retirees admitted they expected to outlive their savings. That's up more than 10 percent over the year before.
And it gets worse — those falling home values? Yeah, retirees are feeling the pain there, too. Older Americans (older than 63) pulled a devastating $300 billion out of their home equity through refinancing from 2001 to 2006. That's according to the Center for Retirement Research.
What about the rest of us? Retirement keeps getting put off, turning into more of a dream than ever before. Unfortunately, we're all still stuck in this nightmare.
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