Every law needs a non-renewable sunset provision. ERISA shows us why.
Do you still wear bell-bottom jeans? Does your hair have an unnatural curl to it? Are you again trying to Whip Inflation Now? The Employee Retirement Income Security Act was signed into law on Sept. 2, 1974, smack dab in the middle of Paul Anka's and Odia Coates' three-week run at the top of the charts with the forgettable "(You're) Having My Baby." A week later, NBC debuted a trio of future hits in "Little House on the Prairie," "Chico and the Man" and "The Rockford Files." I'd ask if this all makes you nostalgic for "That 70s Show," but the first episode of that series was set more than two years after ERISA was enacted.
Rather than pop culture, consider the state of the retirement industry in the era of ERISA. You need to remember two events. First, in 1964 Studebaker closed its American auto plant, leaving a pension plan so severely underfunded most of the employees were left with little to nothing in terms of retirement benefits. This exposed a major risk to workers who relied on their pensions. In the fall of 1972, NBC broadcast an hour-long show titled "Pensions: The Broken Promise." If you're one of those folks who believe pensions are better than 401(k) plans, you should probably try to find a copy of this documentary.
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