With about half of the U.S. workforce lacking a retirement plan on the job, President Obama’s proposal to increase retirement savings through “payroll deduction IRAs” is an important first step in addressing the problem of retirement coverage.

You'll remember the classic tale of Cinderella.  She was the maiden who was mistreated by her stepsisters and stepmother. Each day, she catered to their daily needs and tended to the household chores without complaint.  No one paid much attention to the plight and attributes of Cinderella.

I was speaking at a conference in New York last week when a fellow panelist made a remarkable claim – the U.S. could no longer afford to provide the kind of retirement security middle class Americans came to expect in the post-World War II decades. 

We are dead center in a Category 5 hurricane that just won’t end.  The implosion of Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Lehman, and now Washington Mutual.  Perhaps this weekend, the Federal Reserve, Treasury and Congress will enact a plan to dissipate the storm and re-stabilize the markets.