The "Ownweship Society" in the "New Era of Responsibility"

On Your Own From Beginning to End
The “new era of responsibility” for the “ownership society”

“In an ownership society, more people will own their health plans and have the confidence of owning a piece of their retirement. We’ll always keep the promise of Social Security for our older workers. With the huge baby boom generation approaching retirement, many of our children and grandchildren understandably worry whether Social Security will be there when they need it. We must strengthen Social Security by allowing younger workers to save some of their taxes in a personal account, a nest egg you can call your own and government can never take away. In all these proposals, we seek to provide not just a government program, but a path, a path to greater opportunity, more freedom and more control over your own life. And the path begins with our youngest Americans.”

- President Bush’s Acceptance Speech to the Republican National Committee, September 2004.

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties we do not grudgingly accept, but, rather, seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship.”

-President Barack Obama Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009Economic State of the Union, circa 2009


So let’s do a summary of the economic state of our union as it exists now for all living generations who are now part of the "ownwership society" tryimg to cope within a "new era of responsibility".
Here are some of the conditions affecting today’s “everyday citizen”:
· Today’s workers are too easily disposed of by their employers
· Older workers who must remain employed and invested in the stock market to meet their retirement liability have become permanent casualties of the economic calamity of the last 18 months
· College students have no clear sense of the skills required for 21st century jobs because of the fear of outsourcing
· A public lacking basic money management skills that is now expected to manage their own retirement, health care and other obligations that used to be managed on their behalf by trust worthy professionals who are now hard to find
· Substantial unfunded future “life liabilities” for anyone born in the second half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century
· Governmental economic and citizen welfare policies that are inconsistent across administrations making it virtually impossible for the average person to know what they are personally responsible for to be financially secure
· A federal government bankrupt because of its huge unfunded future liabilities stemming, in part, from its past deficit spending and now trying to figure out how to balance our welfare against national interests such as defense, energy and preserving democracy around the world
· State and local governments bankrupt also because of their massive unfunded future liabilities for pension and health care promises to public employees, Medicare and Medicaid obligations, over extended commitments to schools and taxing anything that they can except maybe the air we breath
· The worst performing start to a new millennium for financial markets ever with two massive bear markets that were just 5 years apart , due in part to a massive overhang of securities sold to the public in the last 20 years of the 20th century that have significantly declined in value forcing a massive recapitalization of our banking industry.
· The first time in history we have 4 generations of the same family living at the same time, all at once. The oldest generation is the only one that is solvent.

The audacity of the “ownership society” and our “new era of responsibility”
If we can’t plan our future as citizens how can we be expected to set aside enough resources to be financially secure?
If we can’t plan our future as workers, how can we even contemplate and save for retirement?

Extract from "Bankrupt at Birth - America's Struggle to Achieve Financial Security in the 21st Century", by Thomas Warren, CFP(TM)
Copyright 2009: Y Squared Advisors