Hmmmm......

Much talk about the economy and how bad it may or may not be. 

At this point; Most of those who have, continue to have, those who have not are waiting expectantly... I wasn't aware of quite how much, until we went out last night one to of our favorite places, Barraco's Pizza It was quite full of African Americans who seemed to think it was more like "Barack O's". I can see being proud of the win, and even the shouts of "It's our time now" but to make me have to listen to extended shout-outs of foul mouthed rap songs was a bit much. No one at the place was even attempting to have them quiet down (a group of about 25 guys). Other tables with African American's looked quite uncomfortable with what was going on as well. We walked out after 10 minutes. The waitresses were all hiding in the bar area, so we couldn't even find ours to let her know to cancel our order. We've NEVER had anything like that EVER happen there.

On a related note: I'm not sure how I feel about the Democrats wanting to Eliminate 401K tax breaks. A Fed sponsered retirement plan looks O.K. on paper but discussion have been going on that may expand the GRA plan of Teresa Ghilarducci  that is being bandied about. Even to the point of freezing and/or eliminating current 401K's until it can be determined if they are "better" than the GRA plan (if implemented and determined "better" you would be able to keep it). Her proposal said that current assests won't be touched, but it's not clear if they would be back-taxed as they're might not be anywhere to roll it into. Participation in the GRA plan would be mandatory starting with a $600 payment (via a tax credit) and 5% of salary deducton a year; half from the employee, half from the employer (to be administered by the Social Security Administration). Return would be gaurenteed at 3%. The only folks exempt from the plan would be compaines with existing pension plans determined (again) to be "better" than the GRA. 

Mind you, this may not replace Social Secuity, it may be in addition to it. 

*update* Sorry, I didn't finish. 

The problem I see with this plan is that every company that has a pension plan (like mine) will use the GRA to bail out of it so they don't have to maintain it anymore....even municipalities and the like... that would not be good.