Berna Brennan

As the House-Senate conference takes up the pension funding and reform bill this month, the conversation about how best to update the nation's retirement saving system is far from over.

The pending pension bill may achieve some important improvements, but it does little to address the fact that American workers are clearly not saving enough: A majority of the workforce does not participate in an employer-sponsored plan, an increasing number of large companies are freezing their traditional pension… more

As Congress is now preparing a second round of Katrina-related proposals, it's important to bring ideas to the table that will help families achieve economic stability. Hurricane Katrina highlighted the fact that many Americans live in abject poverty, without any assets to draw upon in bad times.

The asset-based ideas proposed by the President, including an urban homesteading act to encourage the ownership of land and homes and worker recovery savings accounts for job training and education offer a… more

Over 100 people, including key congressional staffers, leaders from the financial community, and policy advocates attended Solutions for Increasing Savings, Ownership and Retirement Security, co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Retirement Security Project, in conjunction with the Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucuses. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Congressman Philip English (R-PA), Congressman Harold Ford (D-TN) and Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) were active participants throughout the half-day conference, bolstering an event that included many of the pre-eminent scholars on… more