What If Boomers Can't Retire?

PART IIPhantom Wealth and Its Effects

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I INTRODUCED PART I with the analogy of the baby boomers living on a volcanic island. In Part II, I will expand the analogy beyond the boomers and their retirement plans to talk about the way in which the country as a whole uses its savings.

Many writers have discussed how large U.S. companies are neglecting the interests of their employees, customers, suppliers, communities—even the planet—in order to reward their stockholders. In this part of the book, we will see how the massive amounts of retirement savings that have been accumulated by large pension and mutual funds provide the financial muscle to force companies to do as they do.

I will carry the discussion farther than most other writers by showing ...