"Welcome to another day in paradise.

Last month President Bush signed into law the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005. This measure -- and all the zeal of Republican tax cutting -- has stuffed some $880 billion into the pockets of taxpayers.

Of course we really don't live in an economic paradise.

As the president noted, the country has "been through a recession, a stock market decline, corporate scandals, an attack on our country, high energy prices and major natural disasters."

So why are some of us so unsettled? In a word, demographics.

The baby boom generation is beginning to turn 60 years old -- some 8,000 people every day. This is the age when people reflect on their savings, and what they own and owe.

This is the point in logic where paradise collapses. Sure, some people are prepared (one recent study, optimistically, says 43 percent of the baby boom is ready), but is the nation ready?

No -- and the numbers are nasty."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Retirement funds grow old, grow poor (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 6/11)

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