Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Half-Century Man

(5,279 posts)
23. You understand that the point of 401Ks is to generate revenue for wall street, not save for you.
Sun Oct 25, 2015, 10:39 PM
Oct 2015

Your retirement funds are added together with the retirement funds of others and used to collectively invest, right? A middlemen acts in behalf of you and manages the funds. That middleman is paid.

Under the old system; the middleman worked the fund as a whole, and was paid by the whole. You joined the fund, contributed "X" for whatever length of time you chose. That was added to the greater whole. Which was percentaged out in funds and stocks (some safe, some riskier), it generated interest and dividends. You retired, drew out the money you put in plus your share of the collective interest and dividends.
The accounts could be held by brokerage houses and joined by whoever or, more commonly, were part of a union contract with a corporation. Those accounts were held by the company and viewed by corporate management as part of their property. The company backed their choice of investment firms by guaranteeing to cover contributions lost due to fluctuations in the market. All too frequently corporate management used those funds for reason not intended, picked brokerage houses on bribes paid to the selectors of the brokerage houses, or bad investments were picked. The guarantees made long ago, cut into current profits.
Corporate America hates promises the cut into profits, both real and projected.

Under the 401k system. The middleman works both ends of the fund, and the corporate world evades guaranteeing the contributions of employees. or to say it another way the people involved with your money get paid on both ends.
Brokers give you the illusion of control in return for transaction fees. Instead of a money manager with the training and self control to ride out the fluctuations in the market; they count on the greater trading orders generated by millions of lay persons making decisions based on the minor fluctuations. The 401k'er is too personally involved in outcomes of a system beyond their control to be dispassionate. So instead of a larger single fee manipulating a collective fund, millions of smaller fees combine to generate reliably repetitive profits.
By lumping individual investors into handy sets, corporations(and/or their managers) still are in line for bribes and kickbacks. By breaking the unions (or threatening unions) matching contributions get reduced and/or vesting periods grow longer. And current and future profits are seemingly protected justifying executive pay and bonuses.

Link? nt Xipe Totec Oct 2015 #1
Part of it is her speeches to the Wall Street banks that continue to violate U.S. laws: think Oct 2015 #2
Because she is one? They asked during the debate who's a capitalist. Cheese Sandwich Oct 2015 #3
Right - I'm asking why that's a problem? CheshireDog Oct 2015 #7
Capitalism is where homeless people freeze to death in the streets Cheese Sandwich Oct 2015 #16
Attack? By stating the truth? 99Forever Oct 2015 #4
Read the Post... CheshireDog Oct 2015 #8
I read your .01%er apologist post. 99Forever Oct 2015 #13
You don't have to be a 0.1%er ... CheshireDog Oct 2015 #17
What does that... 99Forever Oct 2015 #18
Big stock market crashes HassleCat Oct 2015 #5
Because money and working for corporations is EVIL, EVIL I TELLS YOU!!!! MohRokTah Oct 2015 #6
do you approve of banks rigging markets and no one goes to jail? think Oct 2015 #9
Most of what was done in the leadup to the 2007 recession was completely legal MohRokTah Oct 2015 #12
No. The market rigging where the banks became felons was after that. And these are the banks Hillary think Oct 2015 #15
Unethical and morally criminal. They tanked azmom Oct 2015 #20
Which was allowable under the law. MohRokTah Oct 2015 #21
The balance has tipped way too far in the rightward direction Armstead Oct 2015 #10
I eschew labels but if she wasn't a capitalist she would be the first president who wasn't./nt DemocratSinceBirth Oct 2015 #11
You are subscribing to chicken little azmom Oct 2015 #14
I feel the same way and it isn't a problem at all. leftofcool Oct 2015 #19
If you depend on your 401K and stocks for your retirement brentspeak Oct 2015 #22
You understand that the point of 401Ks is to generate revenue for wall street, not save for you. Half-Century Man Oct 2015 #23
I agree but CheshireDog Oct 2015 #24
Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»Why do people attack Hill...»Reply #23