IBM freezes pension, switches to 401(k)

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Re. welfare: Not that I agree with IBM's move...but noone should be expecting a safety net from *anyone*...except their own savings. The dependency vs. self-reliance issue is still at play, whether its the government or your employer that you're counting on.

I do *not* think we'll be seeing a government role. What we are seeing is the impending collapse of the government's role in this type of thing - social security will not be around when I retire (about 30 years away...yes I'm fairly young yet). I'd rather have a privatized account than keep paying in money I'll never see back.

Bottom line: everyone should take care of themselves, their family and neighbors, with less reliance on both government and corporations. The latter *ought* to do something for its employees' retirements, but employees should not count on it being the core of their retirement funding.

Maybe their ought to be more laws limiting executive pay overall, and/or limiting exec bonuses and retirement contributions to what is given to the average employee. Some means of forcing equitable distribution of profits. Because that's really what's at stake here - hard work that isn't equitably compensated. If the average worker received what they ought to for the work they do, they'd be able to save for retirement without problem. That hasn't been the case for a while - the proportion of salary/wages that the average worker pays for housing, food, etc. has risen dramatically. And prior to the 20th century, people didn't work 30 years to pay off their house - they built one (or the community helped them build one). This wage vs. cost of living imbalance has become the entrapment of the middle class, while execs have become the new aristocracy. This is reversed by self-reliance and initiative, but may need some help in the form of masses of people getting fed up enough to demand reforms in corporate exec compensation, tax laws, etc.; Posted by: techboy_z Posted on: 01/06/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use