Online Video Series Looks at How Financial Crisis
Impacts Retirees, Others in America
One segment on loss of retirement funds, series
visits oldest retirement community in Arizona
Oct. 13, 2008 – An in-depth video series has begun
at WashingtonPost.com to help translate how the financial crisis and
market turmoil are affecting people across the U.S. The series, “Hard
Times,” crafted by Travis Fox, is trying to be a reflection on the
economic issues that will be top priority in the presidential election.
Fox, an Emmy Award winning producer, will travel
across the country to talk with people in areas hardest-hit by home
foreclosures, loss of retirement funds, unemployment, the rising price
of food and gas and other economic challenges.
Country ‘grows weary and weakened with every hour
and every day that Congress refuses to take action toward protecting
home values, retirement dreams and younger generation's opportunities’
Some of the places he plans to visit are the
nation’s oldest retirement community in Arizona, isolated towns in New
Mexico where hunger abounds and a Michigan company whose workers have
taken 50 percent cuts to keep their jobs.
He will also examine the reasons why many farming
communities across the Midwest and towns with local banks have avoided
the financial distress.
The series will interview people working on John
McCain and Barack Obama’s campaigns on the ground in places like
Colorado Springs to find out how they are talking about economic issues.
The personal stories and perspectives presented throughout the series
will collectively demonstrate the extent to which the financial crisis
is impacting Americans’ daily lives.
Retirement Wreck
Are
401(k)s Still Viable for Saving?
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
October 12, 2008 -
For many Americans, 401(k) plans were supposed to be their own
little golden parachutes into retirement.
The global financial crisis that revealed
the flaws of Wall Street has also exposed the vulnerability of
America's retirement system. Employers have increasingly
abandoned traditional pensions, forcing workers to rely on
401(k)s and similar plans that have a lot more exposure to the
stock market.
Read the full story at the Washington Post
–
click here.
The series began Saturday in Santa Barbara, Calif.,
where Fox interviewed homeless people who are leasing parking lot space
to live out of their vehicles. Today, Fox will travel to Las Vegas. The
journey will end in Washington, D.C. around the November 4th election.
"Hard Times is meant to be a hard-hitting, poignant
series focusing on the pain, suffering and dashed hopes of people
brought about by failed economic policies on Wall Street -- and how this
all may affect the outcome of an historic presidential contest," said
Eric Pianin, Politics Editor at washingtonpost.com.
Fox is an Emmy Award-winning video producer for
washingtonpost.com, where he covers international and domestic stories.
Past assignments have taken him to the war in Iraq and across the Middle
East, Europe and Asia. His distinctive web video and panoramic photos
are considered innovative in the field of Internet journalism. In 2006,
he received an Emmy Award for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
The White House News Photographers Association has
named him Editor of the Year three times, most recently in 2006. In
2002, he was also named Camera Person of the Year. In addition to
washingtonpost.com, Fox's videos are regularly featured on television
and in film festivals. He graduated from the Missouri School of
Journalism and lives in New York.
WashingtonPost.com is an award-winning news and
information destination that delivers world-class reporting and
innovative multimedia content, creating a truly interactive news
experience. Using the latest technology and tools, washingtonpost.com
encourages participation and content customization across all platforms,
allowing readers to engage with washingtonpost.com anytime, anywhere.
Winner of four consecutive Edward R. Murrow Awards
for Overall Excellence for Non-Broadcast Affiliated Web site,
washingtonpost.com is owned by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the
online publishing subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. (NYSE: WPO)
Keep up with the latest news for senior citizens, baby
boomers
