i took a mba class from a pr/marketing private businessman in the houston area, and basically, you would be surprised at how much 'news' is written by pr firms and sent to media outlets as stories, they do very little original research, and sometimes they edit the pieces/story thumbnails and just put this free advertising out. Almost nothing of news is not pr driven, when kuwait was invaded...some wealthy advocates paid these people to tell these sob stories in front of congress about all the atrocities to their families during the invasion, to sway public opinion, and committ money to THEIR CAUSE. Turns out these were basically paid actors with fictional stories, but said the ends justifyed their means even though they never witnessed any said atrocities to their direct family members.
I bet somebody with the right agenda is responsible behind the placing of this story in the media. It could be anyone from government agencies trying to increase their budget, to various brokerage houses, to lobbyists for certain clients wantinggovernmental protection to absorb their liability issues, insurance companies, etc.
But ordinary people are protected by these sorts of crimes, as they always get their money back, whether these rules are explicitly or implicitly written.
getting robbed by gunpoint at an atm has no protection--this "wire fraud crime" has a bunch of built-in account holder recourses associated with it, including legal.
as regards to not having more than 180,000 for retirement: i doesn`t really matter whether you have 500,000 or nothing for retirement, as when you get to actual "tangible quality of life care" 500,000 isn`t going to make that much of a difference any way you slice it, as governmental resources just fill the gap of what the retiree doesn`t apply t their own daily care. That`s why anybody that believes we are a soley capitalistic country is mistaken, as illegal aliens get advanced cancer chemo that they can`t afford even with little chance of long-term survival.
People on welfare in this country have dvd players and 32 inch tv`s---you actually probably get better healthcare by showing up at emergency centers than going through your insurance company.
that`s why when people say we don`t have a national healthcare plan it is usually politically motivated, as most states have free mental and health services which are just as good as your major healthcare provider.
that`s why in my opinion you should not be worrying about 180,000, 300,000, 500,000 if you want to have any kind of tangible quality of life difference in your retirement you need to be thinking about at least 5 million. and most americans will never have that kind of retirement savings, and as such, government will step in to fill the gaps for at least a minimal standard of living, quality of life insured.
(of course, owning your home outright, pension, retirement age, ss input, debt, region, family wealth, living style, etc.---can make 180,000 go a lot further than certain people`s 800,000)
