Letters

Wil

l You Ever Be Able to Retire? As uncertain as our retirement futures appear [BUSINESS, July 29], I am deeply bothered by the financial wastefulness and frivolousness of American households, as illustrated by Maria and George Rudd in your article. You noted that together the Rudds, who are in their 60s, earn $280,000 but have a credit-card debt of $45,000 and only $40,000 in savings and investments. The Rudds are only one example of the personal and corporate shortsightedness that has plunged our country into its present financial quagmire. What ever happened to "A penny saved is a penny earned"?
BRIAN FURIO
New Freedom, Pa.

Don't tell me I'll have to work into my 70s! I've been at it since I was 14, and I can't wait for that drink with the umbrella in it.
JOHN M. FLANAGAN
Colma, Calif.

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I always said I'd never be happy fully retired, and now, at age 62, I must convince myself that I truly believe it. At least there's one bit of good news following the stock-market implosion: the idea of privatizing Social Security and turning over investment choices to individuals and their advisers is forever put to rest.
PHIL LEECH
Spring Lake, Mich.

Far too many people live day to day simply counting on faith, trust and luck, without being very sure of their financial security for the next week, month or year, let alone for the balance of their lives. Worrying about voluntary retirement, full of leisure time, is a luxury many people simply do not have.
JEROLD G. BUHRMAN
Smithsburg, Md.

Your article probably scared a lot of ordinary people considering retirement who don't have the $300,000 to $1 million you seem to think they need. A modest retirement is possible without working till 80. Not all of us need or want to live in a mansion, own a yacht and sail about the Greek islands. I've been retired for five years and am quite happy. I keep an eye on how much I spend every month and try to stay out of debt. The simple life can also be the good life.
JOEL LAYNE
Cascade, Idaho

My parents have a fine retirement, relying on Social Security and a company pension without a 401(k) or playing the stock market. How do they do it? They have lived within their means in the same house for 40 years, and they save up for their purchases and vacations.
RICHARD MILLER
Idaho Falls, Idaho

I am 72 years old. I deal with an aching and arthritic body and yearly increases in the cost of living without increases in salary. I also must deal with continuing to work beyond a planned retirement. I could even deal with saying "You want fries with that?", but all I really want to do is scream, "Stop! Let me off to enjoy life."
ROZ LINDSTROM
Pasadena, Calif.

--Readers were especially taken by the cover illustration of a wrinkled carhop on roller skates. "I loved your saucy cover girl Anna," wrote a New Jerseyan. "Those of us who remember the era of drive-ins all had a good laugh. I hope I'm in good enough shape to roller-skate at my retirement job." A Utah reader admitted, "I laughed as hard as the kid in the car until I realized that could be me in 25 years if we don't get the economy cooking again." And a Coloradan took the whole scene to heart: "That kid might laugh, but you can bet that Anna would treat you with respect, get your order right and give you correct change — without the help of a calculator or a cash register. Few teens or 20-year-olds can match that good old work ethic!"

Crude, Rude and Rated PG

Richard Corliss was right on the money in criticizing the PG-13 rating that was given to the latest gross-out comedy, Austin Powers in Goldmember [ESSAY, July 29]. The great majority of PG and PG-13 movies marketed to children contain some of the most inappropriate and harmful sexual innuendo and bathroom humor. Kids in the 10-to-15 age group shun the animated fare of early childhood and want desperately to see the latest and greatest gross-fest targeted at them. I will probably see this Austin Powers movie, but I can assure you my 15-year-old won't. Parents, it's Saturday afternoon — do you know what movie your children are seeing?
MONA JENNINGS
Los Osos, Calif.

Those of us with a sense of humor enjoy the pretentious and somewhat condescending highbrow humor of Woody Allen's films, but we are also able to laugh at the visceral, self-mocking, scatological fun of Mike Myers' Austin Powers movies. Surely fart jokes will not be the downfall of Western society or the ruination of modern cinema. They are just funny: a guilty pleasure that could be free of guilt if self-important critics weren't so eager to heap shame on people who can still laugh.
DAVID MASSEY
Charlotte, N.C.

A Stunning Arsenal

In reading your report on the Pentagon's development of nonlethal weapons that hurt but don't kill [TECHNOLOGY, July 29], I was amazed that such advanced weaponry is being developed and that human-rights activists are alarmed by weapons that could save lives instead of ending them. If the new weapons have the potential for abuse, the U.S. should share the technology only with countries similar to it in policy and idealism. You quoted a human-rights activist as saying "What the U.S. invents today ... the torturing states will deploy tomorrow." But why would they spend money on such sophisticated weapons when they can obtain the same effect with the low-tech means they already have?
NICK PAGE
Cooper City, Fla.