The notion of people working
well into their 70's and 80's is new.
But with the decline of company pensions and punk 401ks and now with the Republican attempt to cripple Social Security many people will be forced to stay in the labor market.
The consequences of this trend is still unclear. Will older workers compete with younger workers for scarce low wage no benefit jobs? Clearly it benefits corporations to have as big a labor pool as possible to keep wages low.
But what about consumption? The role of the consumer in the economy is huge, yet it is seldom even on the radar screen at the Fed or in Washington.
THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE AMERICAN CONSUMER CAN NOT BE STOPPED MAY BE THE BIGGEST FALLACY IN CURRENT THINKING AT THE FED AND IN CONGRESS.
We are seeing the tip of that iceburg with gas prices now.....slowly the American consumer will pull back. And that could be the big story of late 2005 and 2005.
Because, in an economic environment that is ALL FOR CAPITAL, BUT NOT ONE RED CENT FOR THE CONSUMER....
You can just forget about retirement.....THAT is soooo 20th Century!
