wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:23:42 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:

Actually, stuff like SS was wel funded. But skimed by the government.
And often invested in losers because of politics. If all the 30+ years
a working types has SS (employer and employee) in their 401k they would
retire early.

The problem is the government has no vehicle to actually save money
since we got off the gold standard. SS was always pay as you go and
the trust fund was just a scam to collect more taxes for other things.
mostly wars. Originally it was WWII (lend lease)when the trust fund
was established (1939-40) and it was put on budget to hide the cost of
the Vietnam war (1968-69).

The concept of 401ks is flawed too looking forward because 83 million
boomers pulling their money out of the stock market and spending it
will crash the market.

The real problem is you can't have a third of the adult population
living off the work of the other two thirds without a revolt.

The gov't doesn't need to "save" money as much as it needs to have money
available. The gold standard was highly flawed and died an appropriate
death.

Boomers will not be pulling money out en masse. In fact, some of the boomer
generation has already hit retirement age. It's a spread of about 15
years... something like that. Most with substantial 401K-like savings will
likely pull it out in drips and drabs. Only someone foolish would pull it
out at once, esp. given the tax consequences.