Denny Crane!

Hooray for obscene profits! I hate buzzwords...

Great article and a good explanation on how the credit cycle works.

P.S. Please add more fat-cat bashing.

I really would not want employers managing my 401k. At one former employer I had the option to let them manage it or self manage where they money was going. If I had left it in their picks it would have lost money steadily even before the markets tanked. Instead I researched the available funds and moved money around when I saw things that looked unfavorable for the future. I only had losses in one quarter and they were minimal. I also pulled the money out right before the markets fell apart. So the withdraw penalty was nothing compared to what we would have lost had we left it there.

I agree that the savings article does a good job of explaining the credit cycle but the "saving is for suckers" argument doesn't hold up. So you don't let bankers have the spread on your money of between 3-7% depending on what they are loaning it out for. You can pay a commission to broker or other transaction costs by investing it some other way. Unless you are going to go out and find businesses to invest in directly you are going to pay somebody to put your money away and at considerably more risk than an FDIC insured account.

@bohemian:
from the article: The new, more-paternalistic approach, with employers making most of the decisions, resembles a defined-benefit pension plan. But unlike a pension plan, individuals bear all the investment risk.

Great - so employers will force me into high fee and poor performing funds, but have no accountability for it? By taking control, they may be exposing themselves to fiduciary duty - I forsee class action lawsuits and high payments in the future when a company trashes their employees retirement.

What's the benefit for an employer to take control? What do they gain?

Is William Shatner so hard up that he needs to charge for a photo? I mean, really.