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National

The House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released the transcripts of the closed-door testimony of Tim Morrison, the former National Security Council's Russia and Europe director, and Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence. 

Why it matters: Both witnesses provided the House Committees with first-hand accounts after personally listening to the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, per a statement from House chairs.

Morrison said he suggested to NSC lawyers “we restrict access to the package,” referring to access to the transcript, in his sworn deposition to House investigators, according to the transcript of his Oct. 31 testimony. He did not, however, believe anything inappropriate took place on the call.

He confirmed two instances at the center of the impeachment inquiry, suggesting at least some high-ranking officials believed Trump was conditioning the release of military aid on Ukraine’s public commitment to investigations and informed Ukrainians accordingly, per the New York Times.

Williams, a longtime State Department employee with expertise in Europe and Russia, said it seemed, "unusual and inappropriate" after listening to the Trump-Zelensky call, and it "shed some light on possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold."

“The testimony released today shows that President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky immediately set off alarm bells throughout the White House ... following the September 1 meeting between President Zelensky and Vice President Pence, Mr. Morrison confirmed that Ambassador Sondland informed one of President Zelensky’s top aides that American military aid was conditioned on the investigations.  Mr. Morrison informed John Bolton of the meeting and was told by Mr. Bolton to go see the lawyers, which he did. 

“Ms. Williams testified that the President’s requests were ‘unusual and inappropriate’ and shed light on ‘possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold.’  She also confirmed, like Lt. Col. Vindman, that the Ukrainian President specifically mentioned ‘Burisma’ during the call, even though the White House call record does not reflect that.  Importantly, Ms. Williams also testified that in mid-May, President Trump instructed Vice President Pence to cancel plans to attend President Zelensky’s inauguration before the date for the inauguration had been set.“We look forward to the public testimony of both of these officials.”

Reps. Adam Schiff, Eliot L. Engel and Carolyn B. Maloney

Go deeper: A viewer's guide to the impeachment hearings

Read: House releases Morrison, Williams transcripts in impeachment inquiry

Tim Morrison and Jennifer Williams were on the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky.

National Security Council's Russia and Europe director Tim Morrison and Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence. Photos: Getty Images

Politics

Donald Trump impeachment

Venice floods threaten the city's historical sites

Salt from the seawater could soon begin to erode the city.

Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

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Italy

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

Energy & Climate

Data: U.S. Census Bureau and PNAS; Chart: Naema Ahmed


The number of Americans in the workforce who are over 64 years old has tripled over the past 30 years.

Why it matters: Delayed retirement is a sign of health and affluence for some and a continued life of hardship for others. As society ages and people live longer, a 21st century idea of retirement is needed, Steve Vernon of the Stanford Center on Longevity tells Axios. 

The big picture: Americans are working longer — out of choice or necessity. And the trend has broad implications for people of all ages, from younger workers mapping out their futures to older people planning their legacies. 

43% of Americans ages 45 years and older say they expect to outlive their savings, according to an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.

31% of Americans ages 40-79 said they would continue working into retirement age even without a financial need, according to a recent Harris Poll for TD Ameritrade.

"[T]here is more and more incentive to work longer, because the more you work the more you're going to contribute to the [retirement] plan and the more you're going to get from the plan," Richard Johnson, Urban Institute's director for the Program on Retirement Policy, tells Axios. 

On one hand, the average retirement age is just 63 years old. 

Poverty rates among the 65 and older group have fallen.

Since the 1980s, Social Security benefits have risen along with wages, Vernon said.

Pensions largely don't exist anymore, replaced by 401(k) style retirement plans.

But many small and mid-sized employers don't offer retirement plans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Boomers today also have more debt than past generations — an average of $120,000 for those in debt, per the Stanford Center for Longevity. 

30% of them had nothing saved in a retirement plan in 2014. 

There's a growing number of elderly Americans reliant on Medicare and Medicaid. 

Reality check: The mechanisms that once ensured an easy retirement may be disappearing, but a small percentage of American workers ever really benefited from pension plans.

"This image that we have that the prior generation of workers had generous pensions, is largely not right," Vernon said.

What's next: By the 2030s, one in five U.S. adults will be 65 or older, the Census Bureau projects. Life expectancy at birth will have risen to 82 from 79 in 2016, according to U.N. data. This could put tremendous strain on the nation's social security and health care systems. 

It could become even more necessary for older generations to continue working, but opportunities for them may dwindle, especially for low-wage workers as jobs are automated.

“People want to work longer, but do the employers want them to work longer?" Johnson said about the tough sell of retraining senior employees. 

The bottom line: A comfortable retirement at 65 is disappearing — and may have been mostly myth all along.

Millennials, Gen Xers to baby boomers: Can you retire so I can get a job promotion? (USA Today)

For seniors, an intractable housing crisis

More older Americans rely on Medicare and Medicaid

Bridge — the card game — is starting to advertise

Deep Dive: Retirement becomes more myth than reality

Americans are working longer — out of choice or necessity.

Future

Deep Dive - Retirement

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This story first appeared in an Axios Deep Dive

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Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

In an age where “ok boomer” is a rallying cry for young people fed up with older people who don’t understand them, stereotypes abound of millennials spending money poorly. 

The big picture: Labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci tells Axios that millennials don't behave differently than prior generations — they're just thrust into different circumstances. They’re less likely to be offered pensions or qualify for employer-sponsored retirement plans, so they start saving later in life and accumulate less compared to their predecessors. Two-thirds of millennials have no retirement savings at all. 

Why it matters: Millennials are better educated, more diverse than ever and they’re now the largest labor force in America. But they also have a lower net worth and make less than their parents did, and their ratio of wealth to income is projected to remain lower than Gen Xers and Boomers throughout their lives.

“I reject any idea that millennials are more or less worried or indulgent,” Ghilarducci says. “I don’t see anything like that in the data.” 

A Pew report also suggests that external factors — debt, flat earnings and increasing expenses — account for differences in their wealth compared to other generations.

The median net worth of millennial households was $12,500 in 2016, while Gen Xers had $15,100 in 2001 and boomers had $20,700 in 1983.

Yes, but: There is a small cut of the millennial population — known as “Super Savers” — who save a significant percentage of their income for retirement. 

Saving "was a way for us to just get more control" in response to the last recession, Millennial Money creator Grant Sabatier tells Axios. 

According to a survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 71% of millennials join employer-sponsored 401(k)s or similar plans, if they are offered.

And 38% of millennials contribute more than 10% of their income to these plans. They save more than Gen Xers (32%) and similarly to boomers (39%).

A recent study from financial firm Principal examines the habits of “Super Savers” — defined as those who save 90% or more of the IRS maximum or 15% or more of their income for retirement.

Their big sacrifices? 41% limit travel, 41% own “modest” homes and 43% drive older cars.

Jerry Patterson, senior vice president at Principal, tells Axios that family is one of the biggest influencers: 80% of super savers had parents who saved, and only 5% had parents who lived paycheck to paycheck. 

Ghilarducci's data also suggests that many young people with large bank accounts “aren’t more prudent than others,” but benefit from inheritances, trust funds and not having student loans. 

The bottom line: For millennials, having a lower net worth than their parents is part of their financial reality. 

Even with many millennials managing to save more for retirement, on a larger level, “it’s meaningless until there are real solutions,” Ghilarducci says, like better retirement plans, cheaper education or even salary raises. 

One thing most experts agree on is that saving a little, and early on, can still go a long way. “We’ve found that up to about 8%, there are very low opt-outs,” says Patterson. “You’ve got to build that nest egg.”

Special report: Retirement becomes more myth than reality

The millennial retirement savers

Their ratio of wealth to income will be lower than Gen Xers and Boomers throughout their lives.

Illustration of piggy bank with sunglasses. Dollar bills sticking out of the piggy bank.

More than 400 pages of internal Chinese government documents obtained by the New York Times show the origins and execution of China’s detention of as many as 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other predominately Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Why it matters: This is "one of the most significant leaks of government papers from inside China’s ruling Communist Party in decades," per the Times.  The documents, shared by an anonymous member of the Chinese political establishment, imply "greater discontent inside the party apparatus over the crackdown than previously known."

What the documents reveal: The leaked papers contain internal directives and speeches.

Uighur militant attacks at no point threatened Communist control in the region, per the Times. "[T]hey remained relatively small, scattered and unsophisticated."

Yet, against a "backdrop of bloodshed," Xi's private speeches, starting in 2014, set the tone for the clampdown. He called for a “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism” using the “organs of dictatorship,” and showing “absolutely no mercy," the Times writes.

“The psychological impact of extremist religious thought on people must never be underestimated. People who are captured by religious extremism — male or female, old or young — have their consciences destroyed, lose their humanity and murder without blinking an eye.”

Xi Jinping on April 30, 2014, after his first and only trip to Xinjiang

Terror overseas, such as the Sept. 11 attacks, furthered anxieties that violence may carry over into China.

The appointment of regional leader Chen Quanguo in 2016 led to a rapid increase in internment camps and people being held at them. 

“Round up everyone who should be rounded up.”

Chen Quanguo. The sweeping order appears repeatedly in internal documents from 2017.

Since 2017, authorities in Xinjiang have detained hundreds of thousands of Muslim minorities. In the camps, inmates endure up to years of "indoctrination and interrogation aimed at transforming them into secular and loyal supporters of the party."

"The documents also show that the government acknowledged internally that the campaign tore families apart — even as it explained it as a modest job-training effort — and the program faced unexpected resistance from officials who feared backlash and economic damage."

Some officials were forced out or punished. Those who resisted the government's efforts worried it would harm economic growth while further increasing ethnic tensions.

The other side: While the Chinese government's efforts to "cure" Uighur Muslims may have put an end to violent unrest today, experts warn these extreme measures could lead to resentment and worse ethnic clashes in the future, the Times notes.

Our thought bubble per Axios' Dave Lawler: While the detentions in Xinjiang have sparked growing international outrage, and senior members of the Trump administration have raised the issue publicly, most governments are silent and others have even defended Beijing. That’s a testament to China’s economic might and willingness to punish those who dare criticize its human rights abuses. 

China touts dubious emotion recognition tech

U.S. announces visa restrictions on Chinese officials for Uighur abuses

China's anti-Muslim crackdowns extend beyond Uighurs

Report: Leaked files show how mass detention of Uighurs was organized

Chinese President Xi Jinping said to show “absolutely no mercy."

Axios

Saturday's top stories

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Deep Dive: Retirement becomes more myth than reality

The millennial retirement savers

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