A Conversation on the U.S. Economy and the Retirement Challenge with Tony James

On Thursday, May 24, Blackstone’s Executive Vice Chairman Tony James addressed the Detroit Economic Club on a wide range of topics from the current state of the economy to retirement challenges.

James stated that we’re in the second largest economic recovery since World War II, but are still below average recovery. “If we see a couple more good years of growth, we could be at average by 2020.”

James explained that social security wasn’t supposed to be a safety net and its future is a little uncertain. However, he spoke about one certainty – the need for a retirement plan. In his book, Rescuing Retirement, James did a survey seeking the public opinion on his ideas. “We got about a 70 percent approval rating the first time, last week the approval rating went up to 76 percent say yes. I think the public speaks, when the public speaks, politicians listen.”