Reply #5: This is why it is so important for a Democratic Congress

[question everything]

to concentrate on real issues for real people, and this does NOT include impeaching Bush.

An excellent program on Frontline last week pointed out that, first, 401K was never meant to be a real saving account but was something added as a tax relief for executives of Xerox and Kodak; that the contribution of employers to retirement accounts - whether defined pensions or 401K has gone down.

We need to force employers to put 50%, not 5% into employee's retirement accounts. And yes, it has to be the 401Ks, not pensions, since many companies may not exist when it is time to retire.

Still, there are people who buy their $5.00 latte every day, there are people who spend $150 on sneakers for their kids (or more, I have not followed that trend), there are people who purchase macmansions and then a ton of money to heat and cool it, and to maintain it.

An interesting interview several months ago about people in their 40s and 50s who put money into college education. The guest's comments was to compare this to those directions on an airplane in case of a dropped pressure: first put the mask on you, then on your child.

First put money into retirement account. The kids will get by. They may have to work part time, they may have to go to a state college instead of Ivy League, they may start at a two year community college and then transfer, but at least they won't have to support their parents when they have retired and have to rely on Social Security as the sole source of funds.