Summary

President Joe Bidenā€™s economic achievementsā€”lowering inflation, reducing gas prices, creating jobs, and boosting manufacturingā€”are largely unrecognized by the public, despite his successes.

His tenure saw landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act, and major infrastructure investments.

However, Bidenā€™s approval ratings remain low, attributed to inflation backlash, weak communication, and a media landscape prone to misinformation.

Democrats face a ā€œpropaganda problemā€ rather than a policy failure, with many voters likely to credit incoming President Trump for Bidenā€™s accomplishments due to partisan messaging and social media dynamics.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Huh, I didnā€™t think about how the 401K is transferable, but it makes sense that itā€™s a plus; itā€™s how everyone wishes health insurance worked. But does it matter if you move companies if your next employer offers a similar pension? Wouldnā€™t that mean you just had two smaller monthly payments vs. one larger one? And werenā€™t pensions protected from bankruptcy by Employee Retirement Income Security Act? I thought it was because of that Act that companies justified phasing out their pensions for 401Ks.

    Sorry for all the questions. Pensions are sort of an artifact of a lost time for folks my age, but most folks that I know that are my parentsā€™ age seem to prefer the stability of their pensions to 401Ks.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Pensions are protected from bankruptcy, but they arenā€™t guaranteed the same payment. There are maximum payments and itā€™s complicated to give an accurate number, because it depends on the type of pension plan, the age of retirement, years of service, and generally doesnā€™t honor bonuses like early buyouts.

      Pensions have a number of multipliers that make job hopping less ideal. The formula is roughly percentVested x accrualRate x yearsOfService x maxSalary. Vesting hits 100% at 5-7 years, accrual is roughly 1.5% depending on employer. By leaving early you take big hits on the vesting and max salary multipliers that cause it to be a lot less money. One job for 30 year with 100k mak salary would be a 45k pension. 3 jobs, 10 years each with 50k, 75k, and 100k max salaries is only a 33,750 pension.

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        ā€¦OK, Iā€™m fairly sure I understoodā€¦most of that. Thanks for the alternative perspective. Iā€™ve generally only heard the negatives from people whoā€™ve had their pensions replaced by 401Ks, so I guess itā€™s good to know what people see as the positives.