Save more, work longer

Buffalo News: We know many American families struggle financially after retirement, but an eye-opening new report pegs the future figure at more than 40 percent. If that is not cause for alarm, it is certainly cause for action, personal and governmental.
It is hard to be especially troubled that Washington has yet to attend to the coming problems with Medicare and Social Security, though not because the issues aren't pressing. The Medicare trust fund is now scheduled to be depleted in 2018, while the Social Security trust fund will be emptied by 2040.
President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security was a disaster in the making, and it is only the fear of constituents that kept the Republicans who control Congress from moving on it. This faction of the Republican Party has always been hostile to Social Security and Medicare, seeing them as the twin emblems of the useful government they despise.
Even with repairs to those programs, many baby boomers and even Gen Xers face difficult retirements unless they save more and work longer.