The Golden Years Gap

The Golden Years Gap

Flo, the Progressive insurance pitch woman in the white uniform and headband, is relentlessly perky. She won’t be when she learns about the double standard that lets her CEO sock away millions more for retirement than she can. Whereas the Flos of the working...
Shielding Wall Street from the Ravages of Bigotry

Shielding Wall Street from the Ravages of Bigotry

Phil Gramm, the former right-wing senator from Texas, has surprised me. I assumed he had zero charitable instincts. In office, he kept trying to kill safety net programs, such as food assistance: “We’re the only nation in the world where all our poor...
The 0.01 Percent’s ‘I Reap All’ Accounts

The 0.01 Percent’s ‘I Reap All’ Accounts

Do you remember when Mitt Romney’s IRA made headlines during his failed 2012 presidential campaign? That outsized retirement stash estimated at between $20 and $102 million probably led President Barack Obama to propose limiting the buildup of IRA values. It...
The Retirement Deficit

The Retirement Deficit

Deck the halls, this holiday season, with scenes of hunger. Struggling families all across America now have less food on their tables. Budget cuts that kicked into effect November 1 have lowered the nation’s average federal food stamp benefit to less than $1.40...