Business law discussion

Everyone has to eventually look to the future and consider the prospects of retirement. What is the present status of retirement benefits according to the authors of the attached article? Do you agree or disagree? What ethical considerations does the following article highlight?

According to the authors of the article, long before the today's working population of Americans reach the retirement age, the policy decisions taken by Congress party favoring the corporate as well as the special interests over the workers would drive the millions of older American workers--a majority of them being women--into the poverty, pushing millions more towards the brink as well as turning retirement years into the time of requirement for everyone else but the affluent (The Broken Promise, 2005).

All these transitions are well under way, thereby eroding all efforts of the last three decades towards eliminating the poverty between the ages. From the taxes towards the health care to the pensions, the Congress had highly enacted legislation that primarily adds towards the cost of retirements as well as eats away at the dollars once it is earmarked for food as well as shelter (The Broken Promise, 2005). This reversal of employee fortunes can be considered staggering, and even those who have already retired or are near their retirement age would be squeezed by the changing economic rules of the nation.

Yes, I fully agree with the arguments of the authors of the article. The shift away from the guaranteed pensions had been encouraged by the Congress, which had structured the protocols and rules in the way that would invite organizations and corporations towards abandoning their set-benefit plans towards the favor of the defined-contribution plans, thereby increasingly 401(k)s, in which the employees would set aside the fixed amount of the money towards their retirement. Many of the companies also make this contribution; though some don't. Whatever be the case, the contributions had never been enough for matching the certain as well as long-term and fixed income from the defined-benefit plan. Attributing more to this, once all the money would run out, that would be it. If the people tend to live much longer than the expected, they get stuck with the unanticipated and unprecedented expenses as well as suffer losses of the other once promised benefits; they would have very little besides all their Social Security towards sustaining them.

The article highlights the ethical considerations related to guarantee pensions for the retired employees. It emphasizes how diplomacy and unethical practices are affecting the retired employees largely (The Broken Promise, 2005). The primary perception among the Americans that when it comes towards retirement, they are on their own, has surely been a reason that the President George Bush had ran into high opposition towards changing the Social Security from the risk-free plan in the one with private accounts.

References

The Broken Promise. (2005, Oct 23). Retrieved Oct 15, 2012, from www.time.com: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1122017,00.html