Originally Posted by Irishguy
Originally Posted by Goatkiller

Good points all in this thread.... basically here is the typical American's retirement plan:

Low paying job

Sacrifice to put money back for retirement.

Invest that money into a 401(k) so that Wall Street liberals can steal a percentage quarterly.


That basically sums it up. The stock market is rigged fellas. You heard it here first. Machines and trading in Dark Pools have pretty much sealed your fate. I've been on the trading floor and seen it with my own eyes. There ain't nobody there. It's crazy when you think back to the 1980's and people crowded the floor.


So you think in a general sense the stock market and specifically the 401k plans are a scam?


I do. However there is not much you can do about it. Investing in alternatives, real estate for example, takes time and additional effort and is not really how the whole process was envisioned. The 401k was a solution to pension problems. Going out and buying rental property in an effort to retire was not the vision for the average American... Then they figured out how to rob you of a small percentage of your money across millions and millions of people.

Last time I was on the trading floor I asked one of the guys in the blue jacket - Every time I come in here there are less people, when are you guys just gonna go home and turn off the lights?....

His reply was they could do that at anytime.

Machines are in control.

Nobody wants to discuss this but the entire country is in a retirement crisis. Social Security isn't going to cut it for anyone and I honestly believe between this issue and the National Debt our economic position and living conditions are going to continue to deteriorate. There will be a LOT more poor people in 30 years than there are today, old and without good Healthcare.

No government employees were harmed in the making of this mess.