Today's Debate and the Next Taxpayer Tab

Capitol Hill is ground zero today for the Mortgage Mess. Competing proposals will be on display as the Senate Banking Committee is currently taking testimony from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Christopher Cox and Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency James Lockhart. You can catch it a number of places online live if you are at work, like CNN.

The fight today will be over: 1) Whether executive pay for CEOs of companies being absorbed by the government should be limited, 2) whether home owners can go to court to have their loans adjusted, 3) the size of the government involvement.

Why You Care thinks you are busy, and now that you know those are the issues, we suggest reading something else - namely the next taxpayer tab. Namely, this New York Times article showing how retirees are vulnerable to the market slide as they slip into retirement.

Here's why you care: You care because as we've said, much of this relates to 401k's. And if you are retiring you don't want to see your nest egg shrink. You might say, we'll I'm not retiring, this story isn't for me. Why You Care says, wrong - this story is about you because if these retirees can't pay for their medical care and housing, guess who is going to pay? We think you care.