Kentucky pension crisis: A closer look at what 'Frontline' found

[infinite_wisdom]

10. 401k has been a disaster

It's a failed experiment. 401k was designed as a way for rich people to have access to yet another tax cut. It became the go to retirement funding mechanism by mistake. So, it is not surprising that it has been a failure.

401k assumes that everybody involved knows how to invest their money, when in fact few really do. People get laid off or reduce their contributions to pay bills or their kids tuition. It just doesn't work unless a person is making at least 80k per year or has no kids.

Also, when the 401k money is gone, it's gone. It can't be a good feeling to be 76 years old and have a zero balance in your 401k. What do you do then?

There is no reason for these pension systems to be failing outside of catastrophic mismanagement or politicians who can't give enough to breaks to their wealthy donors.