The American Spectator

TAS Live

(Page 2 of 3)

My wife lay in bed reading a mystery and I read of my mother's love for my beloved Mary. I could not sleep for hours. Where is Mary? Where is my mother? Where's Pop? In my heart. I am so lucky my sister is still alive and very, very well. But above all, my wife is my lifeline to sanity. I see her lying there reading and I realize she takes up about six cubic feet on the planet in the infinite universe. But if I did not have her, I might as well be as alone as an atom in another galaxy, cold, desiccated, and dead. (By the way, are planets made of atoms? If so, aren't the electrons whirring around all day long? Isn't that life?) She is my connection with the world of love. Perfectly genial, perfectly generous of spirit, endlessly beautiful and forgiving (the same things, really), and what I live for.

Still, I could not sleep. I think my parents are talking to me. What are they saying? Remember us, but enjoy being on earth at the Watergate, among the policy wonks and limo drivers and Arnold bread. It won't last. Well, maybe it will. I am pretty sure my parents are still here. We Jews believe that souls stay around where they last lived for at least a long while. Can you imagine how many anguished souls must be in Poland and Germany?

How lucky my parents were to live and die in America.

p> Wednesday br> Up early and off to Capitol Hill to testify about retirement planning. I have been to the Hill to testify on many occasions. My father often used to go with me. He was a 50-year veteran of congressional testimony. He gave me the single best piece of advice anyone has ever given me about testimony. "The hearing might go on longer than you think. If they put a big glass of water in front of you, don't drink it." The last time I testified was in '98 about the National Endowment for the Arts. My main opponent was a highly belligerent Alec Baldwin. My Pop was there with me and it was all swell. /p>

Anyway, the shocker this morning is that there is an amazingly long line to get into this Rayburn Building. Apparently everyone is being searched thoroughly and it is taking forever. Plus, it is cold out here. I fell into conversation with a lovely woman and then with several men representing hunters in Pennsylvania and then with a young man. That worthy fellow turned out to be the son of my across-the-street neighbor from my youth, Alan Akman. He was a likable U. of Michigan grad and we had a nice talk, and finally got in.

The hearing was delightful, except for some bickering about Secretary Rod Paige (Education) and his calling the NEA a terrorist organization. After that, the conversation was fine. The basic problem is this. There are about 77 million Americans racing toward retirement age. These are the baby boomers. On average, when they retire, they can expect Social Security to pay for many 38 percent of their expenses. But only about a fourth have defined benefit pensions. And only about that many have 401K's or IRA's or Keoghs. So, what do these people do? The average sum saved for retirement of those who have saved is about $100,000 and of everyone (including those with nil savings ) the figure is more like under $50,000. At today's interest rates (or any day's interest rates) that does not pay much. The gap between what is needed and what we have as a nation for the boomers is probably in excess of two trillion dollars, and on a household basis, it's several hundred thousand dollars.

Where will this money come from? I am up here on the Hill to encourage people to plan, to save a lot more, to buy stocks, mutual funds, especially annuities, since they take the risk of outliving your money out of the picture, and especially variable annuities since they allow your money to grow along with the stock market and also allow you to avoid "longevity risk." My parents had those variable annuities and they did great. Just great. My sister and I still get the benefit of them.

The hearing went on for a long time and I was glad I had not drunk my water. The Representatives were quite cordial, although the Democrats did a lot of sniping at Mr. Bush, surprise, surprise, including some charges that just are not true (surprise, surprise).

After the hearing, the Committee Staff had their photos taken with me, and that was fun, and then on the way out, I met my hero of the Right to Life Movement, Henry Hyde. We had a few pleasantries together and then off I went.

The trip back to the West Coast was a nightmare. My United flight to Seattle was very late so I flew with my wife to L.A. Then we had terrible seats, and I was in a foul mood. But then I was home with my dog and in bed.

Still, I miss my parents' aura in that apartment and the smell of Arnold Bread in the morning.

p>

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