No Easy Answers
Your interesting cover story on 401(k)s made some good points and suggestions and offered some good perspective (“5 Ways to Fix the 401k,” Aug. 19). However, Jane Bryant Quinn should not be so quick to blame the system. 401(k)s are the best thing to become available to workers since the IRA. Mine allowed me to retire by the age of 50 rather than work until I was 65. The fundamentals are sound: the ability to save a huge amount of money tax-deferred; self-directed investment choices; company matching in most plans; the ability to roll over when you leave the company. But the 401(k) is not dummyproof. If an employee rolls the dice and puts all of his or her money into the hottest fund, then sells it when it hits rock bottom, it is not the fault of the 401(k). An example from your article is Chris McCullough, who committed these fatal mistakes. Her company may have even provided investor education, and she just wasn’t paying attention. That may be a cruel assessment, but that is what could have happened. While the market is volatile, unpredictable and unforgiving, it is also the best long-term method for investing money if one does not get greedy or panic. Steve Schoger The Woodlands, Texas
Jane Bryant Quinn’s well-meant proposals run the risk of financial paternalism. If financial-service companies, acting as custodians for “our” money, are permitted to restrict investment choices, transfers or access to funds, then our 401(k)s will soon become like “their” money. The regulations imposed by the IRS on contributions, withdrawals, etc., are already restrictive enough. The real answer is consumer education. Garry Rechnitz Honolulu, Hawaii
Jane Bryant Quinn assumes that people are too incompetent to learn or determine an investment strategy, too irresponsible to handle their own retirement and too immature to be held accountable for their own well-being. Therefore, choices should be limited, specific retirement-planning actions be mandatory and access be restricted. Quinn attempts to save the rest of us from ourselves. Thank you, but no. Even in light of the recent problems with 401(k)s, I think, perhaps arrogantly, that if I work really hard I can plan my own retirement. I would rather not have the government try to do anything for me. It’s already done enough with Social Security. Morton Hsiao Milpitas, Calif.
I found Jane Bryant Quinn’s article on fixing the 401(k) very insightful. However, one area she didn’t address is the difficulty participants face in obtaining basic information when private funds are offered in a 401(k) plan. My experience with attempting to make an informed investment decision when faced with this situation proved daunting. My husband works for a highly respected international human- resources consulting firm, so one can imagine my dismay when I was unable to obtain historical data, investment philosophy and fund composition for two privately held bond funds offered in his 401(k) plan. After –six months of unanswered letters to the fund managers and phone calls to the firm’s service center, I was finally told that “these funds deal only with institutional investors and not private investors.” In other words, I was entitled only to an obsolete year-end list of each fund’s top 10 holdings. My husband and I questioned our trust in the plan’s sponsor and immediately ceased all contributions. Kathleen J. Spahr West Dundee, Ill.
What kind of society will we have if we don’t allow people to pay for their actions? The people losing their shirts right now are those who foolishly put all of their eggs in one basket or were pursuing high returns on risky ventures. That type of investing means you either win big or lose big. Should I and other hardworking people have to foot the bill for the losers? Jane Bryant Quinn, instead of pushing for more government restriction of our choices, should be advising investors not to panic and advocating for real prison time for the executives who did fleece their companies and investors. Alex Renk Sun Prairie, Wis.
Bulk E-Mailers, Begone
Your excellent article on spamming missed only the fact that half of the “un-subscribe” and “remove” links don’t function, and sometimes it’s impossible to get off these lists altogether (“Spamming the World,” Aug. 19). Spammers are parasites. It is beyond me that they can consider this activity acceptable when they know they have to go to extremes to hide themselves from the millions of people who want them to quit. Spammers shouldn’t try to make invasion respectable; they should get a respectable job. Andy Keates Los Gatos, Calif.
I got goose bumps of rage while discussing your spamming article with my wife. I am an Internet consultant and have had the same e-mail addresses for more than eight years, which put me on multiple spam lists multiple times. For several years I hoped our lawmakers would do the right thing and pass tough antispam legislation, but instead I found myself wasting more and more of my time dealing with spam deluge. Unfortunately, no spam-blocking software is perfect. The software I have has filtered out an occasional e-mail from a client, but even though these false blocks have cost me a lot of money, much less time is wasted wading through the come-ons and get-rich-quick schemes. If spammers are so innocent, they should put spam in the subject line and let our filters opt out automatically–and we should fine them out of business if they don’t. Whitney Johnson Charlotte, Mich.
For the Sake of the Children
Writer and intellectual Primo Levi pointed out from his Auschwitz experience that the Nazis had to dehumanize the Jews in order to be able to continue oppressing and killing them. Now George Will wants to do the same thing to the Palestinians, whom he likens to some subhuman race in which human nature has been suppressed (“The Nature of Human Nature,” The Last Word, Aug. 19). Will would do better by recognizing the humanity, and the legitimate grievances, of both sides in this sad and painful war. It would certainly be more helpful in hastening the day when Israelis and Palestinians can live peacefully side by side. Jean Lecuyer Los Angeles, Calif.
How unfortunate that the world doesn’t see the Palestinian leadership for what it is and for what it is doing to the Israelis and its own people. The cult of Islamic fundamentalism has to be rooted out, regardless of the cost, even if–and especially since–it has the potential for billions of members. Nazism, too, had to be eradicated despite the losses suffered. We must think of the Palestinians’ children and ours. Pedram Salimpour Los Angeles, Calif.
Guiding Through Example
Chinaka Hodge deserves to feel joyful for her success in escaping the limitations of her high-crime, low-income neighborhood (“And I’m Watching It All From My Window,” My Turn, Aug. 19). Rather than feeling guilty about having made something of her life, perhaps Hodge will find that her sense of civic and social responsibility lead her back home to West Oakland after college graduation. There she can guide other young people, through her example, in making something of their lives, too. Michael Datz Springfield, Ill.
