The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Is There Really a Retirement-Savings Crisis?
by Anne Tergesen
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Top Headlines
Sen. McConnell to assemble Senate at White House Wednesday for classified briefing on Pyongyang's nuclear sociopath, Kim Jong Un. (Fox News)
U.S. sanctions hundreds of employees of Syrian research center over chemical attacks. (Reuters)
Thanks to oil boom, McMullen County, Texas, now has the highest average adjusted gross income in the U.S. (Money)
After three months, Senate finally confirms Perdue as agriculture secretary. (The Washington Post)
It's official: Berkeley hit with lawsuit over Coulter lecture. (Washington Examiner)
Middlebury professor apologizes ... to rioters for inviting Charles Murray. (The Federalist)
Chelseamania! Could the latest extension of the liar-Clinton brand be good for U.S. politics? (The Wall Street Journal)
Democrats to pro-lifers: You are unwanted and may be discarded. (National Review)
Arkansas executes two inmates in one night, first state to do so since 2000. (Fox News)
Poll: More Americans now prefer a bigger government with more services to a smaller one with fewer services. (Pew Research Center)
Policy: The administration must change the liar-nObama narrative that policing is the problem. (City Journal)
Policy: "Communism for Kids" turns deadly ideology into a fairy tale. (The Daily Signal) ~The Patriot Post
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Democrats Oppose Border Wall
Because They Know It Will Work
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ A clip of Attorney General Sessions starts the discussion with him making the point, “Throughout this whole process I’ve been saying that whenever you come up with anything that will actually fix the problems, that is what does not pass... They’ll pass anything as long as it doesn’t work. They’ll talk about fixing the border again and again and again, but when the chips are down, they back off.” Sessions says we’re close, “the American people have been asking for it for thirty years, it’s time for the politicians to deliver once and for all, and we can do it.” Tucker Carlson is asked if the administration is making their case effectively, that the border wall makes us safer. He indicates that is exactly the problem, that “they’ve made their case so effectively, as the Attorney General just said, nobody wants to pass it. He’s absolutely right, the main problem with the border wall is that it works.” “And that’s what it’s opponents fear,” says Carlson, “they’re not offering up any kind of substantive or principled opposition to it. It costs too much, really?...http://rickwells.us/tucker-carlson-democrats-oppose-border-wall-know-work/
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Trump Attacks Dems Over Funding For
‘Badly Needed’ Border Wall
by Will Racke
{dailycaller.com} ~ President Donald Trump went after Democratic lawmakers Sunday who have promised to reject an emergency spending measure that includes funds for a border wall... Trump’s clash with congressional opposition comes just days ahead of an April 28 budget deadline. He highlighted the issue in a pair of tweets, while top administration officials took to Sunday news shows to reiterate that wall funding remains high on the White House wish list for any bill coming out of Congress. “The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members,” Trump tweeted Sunday...http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/23/trump-attacks-dems-over-funding-for-badly-needed-border-wall/
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Leftists turn on each other:
SEIU battles Hamas-linked CAIR
by Robert Spencer
{jihadwatch.org} ~ Hamas-linked CAIR must be stunned by this, after growing accustomed to Leftist groups being eager and energetic allies, now this. And notice how, after years of calling itself a civil rights organization... it is now claiming to be a religious group, in order to deflect SEIU’s charges. “CAIR was formed in 1994 under the auspices of working to promote social, legal and political activism among Muslims in America.” In reality, “CAIR was incorporated by three leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) — Nihad Awad, Omar Ahmad, and Rafeeq Jaber. Mousa Abu Marzook, the current deputy political chief of Hamas, served on the board of directors of IAP in 1989 and provided the group with $490,000. IAP, which is now defunct, was long a central player in Hamas’ U.S. support network while CAIR’s future founders controlled IAP...
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Professor Claims NRA Is More
Dangerous Than ISIS
by AWR Hawkins
{breitbart.com} ~ Notice how Kennedy went from incorrect information–the wrong founding date for the NRA–to unsubstantiated claims that the NRA wants to allow “possession and use of firearms just about anywhere by just about anyone.”... In reality, the NRA fights for the enforcement of the law and the prosecution of firearm-wielding criminals with a fervor equaled only by its defense of law-abiding citizens’ right to keep and bear arms. Kennedy’s language muddies the water and misses the point. Kennedy then claims the number of Americans killed by ISIS jihadists since 9/11 is nine. That is not a typo, he actually links to a Euronews source and claims only nine Americans have been killed by ISIS jihadists since the terror attacks on NYC in 2001...Kennedy is a liar and makes misleading information.http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/20/mo-school-of-journalism-prof-nra-more-dangerous-than-islamic-state/
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Trump’s Border Wall Request
Equals 0.035% of Federal Spending
by Terence P. Jeffrey
{cnsnews.com} ~ President Donald Trump’s request that Congress include $1.4 billion to fund the beginning of his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border equals approximately 0.035 percent of what the federal government will spend in total this year... according to the latest estimate of fiscal year 2017 federal spending made by the Congressional Budget Office. It also equals less than the Department of Health and Human Services spends in just twelve hours and less than the Treasury collects in taxes in four hours. That is assuming that HHS spends money 24 hours a day and the Treasury collects it 24 hours a day...Then why is the dems and repub opposite to it? http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/trumps-border-wall-request-equals-0035-federal-spending?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRBd1pqVTBOV1l5WlRRNCIsInQiOiJJbzd6VGlkT2tCUHdOcDRkSGdQSjVvSStJY2hNM0JDTFpDNmlBTGpCdG1LelZrUkppNDdhelI0R0V2Q1JpNXVOTkxEck95dVI2dmpcL0M5NzJSSnArazFPWEpGaW9SNWJiRCtFRlE0R1EzYm1ETXR0U2Y5YktUQXB1MjlnMGxYTzUifQ%3D%3D
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{wsj.com} ~ The population is aging, Social Security’s trust funds are expected to be depleted in 2034, and the median household headed by someone age 55 to 64 has little more than $100,000 in retirement savings.
But are large numbers of Americans facing a retirement crisis? Will they suffer a substantial drop in their standard of living in later life?
Experts, it turns out, are sharply divided on the answer to this key question.
When the Washington, D.C.-based center convened 19 experts to recommend ways to improve the nation’s retirement security, the group ultimately agreed to disagree on the crisis question.
To shed light on the topic, The Wall Street Journal invited two prominent economists to share their thoughts, and differences, in an exchange of emails. Alicia Munnell, director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, argues that the outlook is alarming. Andrew Biggs, resident scholar at the nonprofit American Enterprise Institute, contends that most Americans are doing just fine.
The two of them, friends and past collaborators, “have read the same literature and looked at the same data” but have come to very different conclusions, observes Ms.. Munnell. Here’s an edited transcript of their conversation.
Do we or don’t we?
WSJ: Do we face a retirement crisis?
MS. MUNNELL: Yes. Our National Retirement Risk Index [the NRRI], based on data from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, shows that about half of today’s working-age households won’t be able to maintain their preretirement standard of living in retirement. The reason is simple: We need more income because we are living longer and continue to retire relatively early. But we will get less from traditional sources. And interest rates, which determine how much income we can draw from our nest eggs, have fallen to historic lows.
Under current law, Social Security replacement rates are being gradually reduced as the age at which you can claim full benefits rises from 65, for those born before 1938, to 67, for those born after 1959. Because Social Security faces a long-term deficit, benefits could be cut further.
In addition, traditional pensions are rapidly disappearing. While 401(k) plans could be an effective replacement if employers automatically enroll employees at high savings rates, today these plans are clearly falling short. For households nearing retirement that have 401(k)s but not necessarily IRAs, the typical total balance in their retirement savings is only $111,000.
Even worse, only about half of private-sector workers participate in any kind of employer plan at their current job. This coverage gap is a serious problem, because—outside of workplace plans—Americans save virtually nothing.
WSJ: Andrew, what’s your take?
MR. BIGGS: A “retirement crisis” is when inadequate savings cause large numbers of households to face a substantial drop in their standard of living in retirement. That is not going to happen.
Yes, some studies show most Americans falling short. But others show fewer Americans falling short, and smaller shortfalls.
Seniors have the lowest poverty rates in the population. Three-quarters of retirees tell Gallup they have enough to live comfortably. There is no evidence that retirees are cutting discretionary spending like entertainment or charitable contributions, which you’d expect if they were running short of money.
In addition, more working-age Americans are saving for retirement than in the past. While people are wistful for traditional pensions, never more than 40% of workers ever had one. Today, the Social Security Administration finds that 61% of all workers, and 80% of married couples, are saving in a retirement plan. Most households who should be saving for retirement are saving.
Federal Reserve data show that from 1981 to 2016, the total balances of 401(k)s, traditional pensions, IRAs and other retirement plans rose to 153% of GDP from 58%. Yes, some Americans are undersaving. But a crisis? If we didn’t have one in 1981, when savings were one-third the current level, we don’t have one today.
Continuing reading at this link below:
Is There Really a Retirement-Savings Crisis?
{wsj.com} ~ The population is aging, Social Security’s trust funds are expected to be depleted in 2034, and the median household headed by someone age 55 to 64 has little more than $100,000 in retirement savings.
But are large numbers of Americans facing a retirement crisis? Will they suffer a substantial drop in their standard of living in later life?
Experts, it turns out, are sharply divided on the answer to this key question.
When the Washington, D.C.-based center convened 19 experts to recommend ways to improve the nation’s retirement security, the group ultimately agreed to disagree on the crisis question.
To shed light on the topic, The Wall Street Journal invited two prominent economists to share their thoughts, and differences, in an exchange of emails. Alicia Munnell, director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, argues that the outlook is alarming. Andrew Biggs, resident scholar at the nonprofit American Enterprise Institute, contends that most Americans are doing just fine.
The two of them, friends and past collaborators, “have read the same literature and looked at the same data” but have come to very different conclusions, observes Ms.. Munnell. Here’s an edited transcript of their conversation.
Do we or don’t we?
WSJ: Do we face a retirement crisis?
MS. MUNNELL: Yes. Our National Retirement Risk Index [the NRRI], based on data from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, shows that about half of today’s working-age households won’t be able to maintain their preretirement standard of living in retirement. The reason is simple: We need more income because we are living longer and continue to retire relatively early. But we will get less from traditional sources. And interest rates, which determine how much income we can draw from our nest eggs, have fallen to historic lows.
Under current law, Social Security replacement rates are being gradually reduced as the age at which you can claim full benefits rises from 65, for those born before 1938, to 67, for those born after 1959. Because Social Security faces a long-term deficit, benefits could be cut further.
In addition, traditional pensions are rapidly disappearing. While 401(k) plans could be an effective replacement if employers automatically enroll employees at high savings rates, today these plans are clearly falling short. For households nearing retirement that have 401(k)s but not necessarily IRAs, the typical total balance in their retirement savings is only $111,000.
Even worse, only about half of private-sector workers participate in any kind of employer plan at their current job. This coverage gap is a serious problem, because—outside of workplace plans—Americans save virtually nothing.
WSJ: Andrew, what’s your take?
MR. BIGGS: A “retirement crisis” is when inadequate savings cause large numbers of households to face a substantial drop in their standard of living in retirement. That is not going to happen.
Yes, some studies show most Americans falling short. But others show fewer Americans falling short, and smaller shortfalls.
Seniors have the lowest poverty rates in the population. Three-quarters of retirees tell Gallup they have enough to live comfortably. There is no evidence that retirees are cutting discretionary spending like entertainment or charitable contributions, which you’d expect if they were running short of money.
In addition, more working-age Americans are saving for retirement than in the past. While people are wistful for traditional pensions, never more than 40% of workers ever had one. Today, the Social Security Administration finds that 61% of all workers, and 80% of married couples, are saving in a retirement plan. Most households who should be saving for retirement are saving.
Federal Reserve data show that from 1981 to 2016, the total balances of 401(k)s, traditional pensions, IRAs and other retirement plans rose to 153% of GDP from 58%. Yes, some Americans are undersaving. But a crisis? If we didn’t have one in 1981, when savings were one-third the current level, we don’t have one today.
Continuing reading at this link below:
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