[rant]
I have mixed reactions to this genre of deadline journalism.
First, these articles seem to be published at least weekly during up markets and hourly during recessions. There's always someone willing to provide a gloomy story or a scary sound bite, but rarely any context other than anecdotal or made-for-journalism non-peer-reviewed surveys. Bonus points for quantifiers like "horrific". It's like the first couple reels of "The Perils of Pauline" where she's tied to the train tracks, a steam whistle is heard offscreen and then... tune in next week!
Second, where's the statistical rigor and insightful analysis? Would your high-school statistics teacher take this for your semester project?:
This study is based on a national telephone survey of 1,002 adults ages 45 and older who were currently working, looking for work, or retired. This sample was then boosted to obtain additional interviews with Hispanics, producing an oversample of 400 Hispanics ages 45 and older. The interviews were conducted in English by Woelfel Research, Inc. from April 12 to April 23, 2008.
I guess if you're "happily unemployed but not retired" or "Se habla espanol?" your input wasn't deemed necessary. And was the article going to talk about the significance of the Hispanic oversampling, or does it just make the stories better?
Third, is some taxpayer or charity or enforcement authority expected to save these people from their blissful ignorance? Were they forced by unethical financial advisors or greedy 401(k) custodians to raid their retirement funds? Or did they just overspend on their discretionary expenses, and as a result:
About 76%, for example, said they are eating out less, and 71% said they are spending less on entertainment.
Doesn't sound like anyone's homeless or selling blood products for food. As for going without medications or health insurance... refer back to that phrase "blissful ignorance".
Fourth, what's the final reel of this horrific scenario? Famine? Pestilence? Riots in the streets? Mass suicides or euthanasia? No, they're going to keep working. Eeek. That's right, the people who spent all their money are going to salvage their flattened retirement accounts by...
(wait for it)... working longer. Holy crap, Batman, quelle horreure.
I wonder if they'll keep donating their payroll deductions to Social Security and Medicare.
[/rant]
Disclosure: Instead of reacting to articles like these, spouse and I give a significant portion of our SWRs to the Hawaii Food Bank and the Institute for Human Services-- real charities helping real people with real problems... and who probably don't have enough of a work history to be able to depend on SS or Medicaid, either.