Tom Perez Quotes
Workers are most likely to save for retirement if they have access to a workplace savings plan and are automatically enrolled in that plan.
Perez, Thomas E. "US Labor Department Clears Path for State-Sponsored Retirement Savings Programs." U.S. Department of Labor, 25 Aug. 2016.
Clinton wanted to strengthen Federal control over how private pensions like 401k plans were managed and increase the penalties for fraud and abuse. The legislation failed. About 8 years later, the nation was in a private pension crisis with fraud, underfunding, and mismanagement destroying much of the value of American’s pensions and transferred more debt onto the Federal Government. Clinton critics argue that the proposed legislation was too weak to have prevented the serious problems that ensued, while supporters claim that he had to propose very little because of the opposition to doing anything. The quote is important because it shows early government knowledge of a potential problem which did not good as the system failed to build in any protection for the future
This statement was quoted over and over by his Presidential opponent, Lyndon Johnson in the campaign of 1964. Although, a wealthy person could on the average do a little better with a private investment of equivalent money and a disability insurance, those citizens of less wealth could not do so as easily. And few could obtain the disability and survivor benefits that comes along with Social Security. Goldwater wanted to make Social Security Voluntary, and most Americans thought the Goldwater prescription for Social Security would kill the program and did not support him. Conservatives have argued for this idea ever since, including Geirge W. Bush who made it a centerpiece of his administration’s program. It was rejected by the voters, and most of those were proven right when with the 2008 stocks had lost 50% of their value—the people who had retired and depended on their return from investments were mostly in terrible trouble. And of course, even in good times, some people who invest in the stock and bond markets do well and some do poorly. What would society do about those who lost most of their retirement. Let them starve because they invested badly?
Thomas Edward Perez is an American politician and attorney who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 until January 2021. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (2009–2013) and United States Secretary of Labor (2013–2017). He was a GU Politics Fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service in 2021.
