Poll shows concerns regarding retirement

[question everything]

Poll shows concerns regarding retirement

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

June 19, 2005

A majority of Americans are worried about having enough money for retirement and pessimistic that Social Security will pay the benefits they expect to need when they retire, according to a New York Times/CBS News Poll. Yet most Americans also say they find it difficult to save.

The survey found deep support for Social Security, the 70-year-old government pension program, but also deep concern about its future. Two-thirds of Americans said the future of Social Security mattered "a lot" to them personally. Eighty percent said it was the government's responsibility to provide "a decent standard of living for the elderly."

But the sharply polarized debate over Social Security's long-term solvency, which has waxed and waned for more than a generation, has left its mark, particularly on the young. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they did not think Social Security would have the money to pay the benefits they would have expected when they retire; 70 percent of those younger than 45 felt that way.

(snip)

Even as they worried about the future of Social Security, Americans had very tempered expectations about the stock market as a source of retirement security. Three-fourths of Americans said they considered such investments to be "generally risky," while just 21 percent said they considered the market to be "generally safe."

(snip)

The telephone poll was conducted from June 10 to June 15 with 1,111 adults, of whom 781 have not yet retired. The margin of sampling error for the entire poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points; for the nonretirees, it was plus or minus 4 percentage points.


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050619/news_1n19poll.html

[DBoon]

1. If you don't think social security is going to be around

just wait and see what your 401k gets you. How many people can afford to put away the max? How many can go their entire working life without breaking open their 401k (due to extended unemployment, etc.)?

One of the accomplishments of the New Deal and the Great Society was almost eliminating poverty in the elderly.

Bush wants to make his accomplishment bringing poverty back.

[unhappycamper]

2. Like I tell my 37-year old son:

If we DO NOTHING, when he is 75 (or 85, depending on whether you believe 2042 or 2052 is the magic date) his benefits will be reduced by 25%.

There is no rush - SS reform is a distraction from the real problem - heath care.

[Overseas]

3. Priorities !! Kick out those who give us weapons

instead of universal health care and social security !!

[sadiesworld]

4. It's a crying shame.

Assuming the accuracy of this poll, * has succeeded in accomplishing much of his goal by convincing the majority of Americans that there is a problem with SS.

[patdem]

5. Why does the 'corporate media whores' jumble % and fractions?

I bet to mislead...three fourths is 75 fricking percent...that is a HUGE PERCENTAGE..while the term three fourths might be considered only three out of four? Then a whopping 21% think the stock market is just ducky...

[struggle4progress]

6. Iraq and Economy Remain Key Worries in U.S.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Two topics continue to dominate public opinion in the United States, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 19 per cent of respondents say the war in Iraq is the most important problem facing their country, while 18 per cent mention the economy and jobs. <snip>

Polling Data

What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?

Jun. 2005 Apr. 2005

War in Iraq 19% 16%
Economy / Jobs 18% 15%
Terrorism 6% 6%
Health Care 5% 5%
Social Security 4% 6%
Moral Values / Family Values 4% 3%
Gas / Gas prices / Oil 3% 5%
Education 3% 3%
Foreign policy 3% 3%

Source: The New York Times / CBS News
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,111 American adults, conducted from Jun. 10 to Jun. 15, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=7710

[IndianaGreen]

7. Let's see how we can compute this... Bush will destroy Social Security

at the same time that corporate America is defaulting on its pension plans. What does that leave us with? Work until we drop dead?