Brij’s One More Idea | Debt, Keogh plan and slot machines! Who is screwing around with capitalism?

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Debt, Keogh plan and slot machines! Who is screwing around with capitalism?

By Brij ⋅ June 11, 2008 ⋅

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David Brooks amplified Barbara Dafoe's excellent analysis on emerging class conflict. It's very refreshing to see someone use 'thrift' so many times in one essay. Read full essay to understand how deep is the financial hole we are in. It's shocking to see half of the country chained to slot machines as lottery class:

The investor class, with ample access to institutions that foster wealth-building discipline, is served by a bevy of insurance agents, tax lawyers, stockbrokers, tax accountants, deferred compensation experts and investment bankers. They are likely to work in organizations with 401(k) plans, profit-sharing, Keogh plans, deferred income compensation and retirement savings programs. The lottery class, on the other hand, works in jobs that offer few pro-thrift benefits. As of 2004, seventy million of America's 153 million wage earners worked for employers without a retirement plan. Rather than being courted by investment firms, they are targets of modern-day, made-to-look-respectable loan sharks. Tens of millions of working Americans who might join the class of savers and investors under more favorable circumstances are being recruited into a burgeoning population of debtors and bettors.

There will be solutions to these problem but I think we are going to see painful adjustments in near future. If you read like Google then just scan through this list:

Payday lenders, class conflict, plastic trap, state lotteries, tax saving innovation, hedge fund, moral bankruptcy, household income, household saving, debt culture, decadence, spreadsheet slavery (ok this one I added!)

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