Study shows nearly half of Americans die with less than $10K in assets. Are you saving enough for retirement?

At one time I was able to save a little, but what I sadly learned too late was that the right-wing dominant policies in this country will eventually bleed nearly every American dry. But that is the net effect of their so-called "conservative" policies - which benefit the few, at the expense of the many.

After spending nearly a decade in the Air Force, I got out and launched a career in IT. I've now been in IT for nearly 2 decades, making around $90k until the recession. After getting a degree in business, saving up nearly $50k, developing a software idea, creating the prototype, submitting a patent application, and building a management team, I decided to leave my employer and go full time with this idea July 4, 2008. We borrowed a little more from family; but, by October, the recession was in full swing, and no one was investing. Eventually, we were drained of all our cash, I couldn't get unemployment, and we had to assume a portion of the companies debt. So, while trying to find a new job (which I eventually did), I began studying the real causes behind the crash and our turbulent economic system.

In short, the main problem is that we have a debt-based monetary system, coupled with a form of government (not a republic or other form of democracy) which is primarily controlled/manipulated by extremely wealthy individuals - aka plutocrats. These plutocrats (primarily right-wing) have worked diligently to undermine and sabotage all of the programs/systems developed by those that survived the Great Depression. In addition to lobbying our government (federal, state, & local), these plutocrats have also spent vast amounts of money building a massive propaganda machine to spread their fallacies, demagoguery, and lies to the masses - thus ensuring enough people will keep voting against their interests.

It's important to understand that, basically, our money is "created" by the banks in a practice called fractional reserve lending. Every US dollar in circulation is lent into existence by a bank of some sort. Therefore, the value of our currency is based on the solvency and lending practices of those banks. Thus, the banks control the supply of money - credit scarcity = monetary scarcity. Monetary scarcity, as it turns out, is one of the key causes behind every recession/depression for the last 100 years. Conversely, when banks loosen their credit requirements, the economy expands. But, while the US economy did expand over the last few decades, profits of businesses have increasingly gone to fewer and fewer people - not surprisingly this is mostly corporate executives, bankers, financiers, and politicians. So, while profits have increased, the workers have received less and less compensation and benefits - while also facing the threat of "layoffs" or simply being fired. At the same time, those workers (also consumers) have had to pay more and more for everything. Without receiving the added benefit of their employers profits, though, they can not save up enough for retirement.

If you want to know more, check out Ellen Brown's book "Web of Debt", but you can also watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?...

But to hear the Republican/conservatives/righ... tell it, the cause of all of our problems are "liberals". So-called conservatives spew the term "liberal" (along with socialist, communist, et al) out as a pejorative against anyone that dares to object to their self-serving and socially-destructive policies. However, in most cases, the "conservatives" are objecting to policies and programs created following the Great Crash and Depression to help prevent it from occurring again and protect the majority from suffering to other people's avarice. The plutocrats oppose these protections because they want the US to return to the same system we had before the 1920's - where 90% of Americans lived in abject poverty, and would work for pennies. At the same time, the same plutocrats oppose any law that might make them or their company liable for negligence, wrong-doing, and even out-right illegal activities. This is very ironic/hypocritical, because they also love pontificating about individual responsibility. These plutocrats want to return the US to the policies/practices which created the Great Crash, depression, and our recent recession; but, they want everyone to either forget about that part of our history, or at least think it will be different this time. The fact, however, is that the only one's who will benefit by undermining these policies will be the corporate executives, bankers, financiers, and politicians, These plutocrats know that the policies they oppose limit their ability to amass wealth, power, luxury, and/or privilege. Conversely, everyone else will have less wealth, fewer rights, and lower over-all quality of life, while also being saddled with more debt - which we will conveniently owe to the plutocrats. See how this is a great system for them...

Given our current practices, I now doubt I'll be able to re-build my savings over the next decade, certainly not enough for retirement. As it stands now, the previous generation (aka Baby Boomers) can't afford to retire either, so those of us in our 40's and 50's are unable to assume the positions they have and earn enough for retirement. This wasn't the case 30 years ago, before the right wing began eviscerating the Depression-era laws that created the longest sustainable economic growth in the US.

Check you facts. What Obama did is cut reimbursement to PROVIDERS, the doctors, hospitals and others that charge inflated prices. Ryan wants to cut BENEFITS on seniors and try to push them into some half-ass voucher system that would only benefit the richer seniors.

For those not seniors yet here's a shocker. Medicare is divided into various parts, A, B, C and D. Part A is providers like hospitals. Are you sitting down? Medicare often pays 100% of whatever a hospital charges. Say you need open heart surgery. I'm just picking a number out of thin air, but say the hospital charges you $80,000. Medicare pays them $80,000 or close to it. Part B is what you pay doctors, others. In the same example say your doctor charges you $40,000. Medicare has a predetermined payment for operation X. That varies depending where you live. Lets say you live in Boston. Operation X is worth $32.000 in Boston, it may be worth more or less elsewhere. Medicare only pays 80% of the approved charge (the $32,000 or $25,600), you are stuck with paying the remaining balance if your doctor accepts Medicare, many don't.

Some foolishly think Medicare is free. Hardly. Besides you paying some through FICA tax withholding, once you're are on Social Security and you want Medicare they deduct a premium each month from your benefits. I think its $102 now. Plus many seniors need (see why above) a suppmental insurance plan like Blue Cross, Blue Shield, to cover the 20% of approved expenses Medicare don't cover. What isn't approved again is up to you to pay for from your own pocket unless you have some super suppmental play that just costs a fortune and you pay sky high premiums for. That's typically another $150-300 or more a month in insurance premiums beyond what's deducted from your SS check. And we didn't get to the high cost of prescription drugs yet that many seniors need to take.

Ryan's plan would make things much harder on granny making even basic major coverage too expensive for many.