Obama focusing on pension plan problems

As a 40-something year old, I ask, what the heck is a pension plan? I remotely know a few old time IBMers who have pension plans but that's about it. (IBM no longer even offers pension plans to incoming workers. They now offer 401K plans, as I recall.) I can't think of a single person in my group of friends of my generation or younger who will ever see a pension plan. If Obama wants to talk about how he's going to help average Americans build retirement plans through 401Ks or something new, great, but pension plans? Really?

It's obviously terrible what has happened with numerous corporate retirement programs (my father had parts of his changed after retirement) but overall, it impacts so few compared to the bulk of the population. A pension plan is an issue that I can relate to about as much as I can relate to a lifetime job with a single employer. If Obama wants to set himself apart from the pack (or at least get into competition) we need to hear about how the 401K/IRA generation is going to have new programs to help us build our futures. What about protecting 401K/IRA owners from over-charging by Wall Street?

There's plenty to work with around individual retirement plans and that's our future, so talk to us. We're listening, but need to hear something better than problems that have existed for decades and are about the past.