The “S” Word And Your Savings
By Uppity Woman on October 26, 2008 at 6:27 PM in Current Affairs
Someone gave me a link yesterday that discussed how Democratic Congress members were considering seizing 401(k)s and putting them in a government account that would yield…….are you ready? Three percent. Forever.
I was horrified. Here we are in a shakey stock market and our dumb shit congress is actually considering seizing what’s left of your money so that you can never recover in the long term, much less ever get those nifty dividends some companies pay quarterly.
Some folks use those dividends as part of their budgets. But of course, our fattened Congress doesn’t think about that. They are all doing just fine. And here, these nutball Socialists are thinking of yanking 401(k)s that have lost money and making it so you not only can never recover, but also making it so you can never earn more than 3%. Forever. That is, if they don’t spend it all like they did with the Social Security money we have all contributed.
Still, even though I was horrified, I didn’t believe that this could actually happen with my own savings from my own earnings:
I hate to use the “S” word, but the American government would never do something as, well, socialistas seize private pension funds, right? This is exactly what cash-strapped Argentina just did in the name of protecting workers’ retirement accounts (Efharisto, Fausta’s Blog). Now, even Uncle Sam isn’t that stupid, but some Democrats might try something almost as loopy: kill 401(k) plans.
House Democrats recently invited Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School of Social Research, to testify before a subcommittee on her idea to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of the popular retirement plans. In place of 401(k) plans, she would have workers transfer their dough into government-created “guaranteed retirement accounts” for every worker. The government would deposit $600 (inflation indexed) every year into the GRAs. Each worker would also have to save 5 percent of pay into the accounts, to which the government would pay a measly 3 percent return. Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said that since “the savings rate isn’t going up for the investment of $80 billion [in 401(k) tax breaks], we have to start to think about whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that’s not generating what we now say it should.”
Seems far-fetched doesn’t it? I mean you would have to be thinking, “Naaaaaaa that can’t happen in a Democracy, Especially with my own money“. I mean it would be money people EARNED and SAVED. That’s not possible, right? That’s what I was thinking too!
But then I remembered Barack Obama’s “Spread The Wealth” remark. I mean, let’s face it, seizing all those 401(k)s would definitely give him access to the money to do just that. Look what they pulled off with Fannie Mae? Let’s face it, the “richest 5 percent” isn’t paying for that little giveaway. We are. The rest of us. And our children. And our children’s children….
It also crossed my mind that this guy is the very reason the stock market is not reviving,even with a promise to pump a trillion into the system. The polls say he is going to win and he said he is going to “Spread the wealth”. The stock market will never revive under a Far Left Neo Liberal Totalitarian Socialist Congress and President because there will be NO checks and balances on this “Spread the wealth” bunch. None. Zero. Zilch. Nobody in his or her right mind will have confidence in the market. They would have to be thinking the Government will own the rest of the market next year at this time. They already bought up part of it.
Even after realizing all of these things, I STILL kind of figured, “Naaaaaaaa. Nobody is THAT stupid“. I mean nobody is that dumb not to realize this would erode the stock market even more. And nobody is rotten enough not to realize that SEIZING someone’s life savings and holding it hostage isn’t very American.
Then I heard Cavuto say that Congress is also considering eliminating the tax breaks for 401(k)s. This of course would discourage any savings at all against your own future. As it is, far too many Americans live on credit and don’t save a penny. So I figured, Nahhhhhh, they wouldn’t do that. That would discourage EVERYBODY from saving. Nobody is that dumb, right? After all, this is also not only going to affect the “richest five percent”. This affects every workng American with a 401(k) or IRA. It doesn’t, however, affect wild-eyed young people looking for some hopey-changey excitement while their parents support them. They have no life savings as they are busy spending their parents’ life savings. What a shock when they find out that bucket is getting mighty small.
Then I remembered that under an Obama presidency, there would be no Free Market. Government will be the Market. Decisions on your income and savings will be made by them. You will be “Equal”. Meaning Poor. Barack Obama and Congress won’t be poor though, count on that. Your life savings doesn’t mean squat to these people. They want it to pay for the “Spread the wealth” program, most of which will go right into their own privileged pockets in one form or another. Socialism is for YOU, not for them. This is not about the richest 5 percent folks. Don’t buy it. It’s about you.
Kiss what’s left of your 401(k) goodbye because, given the talk we are hearing from the Obama campaign and the complicity of the Nancy Pelosi’s and Harry Reid’s, this is probably closer to reality than we imagine. Even if you wanted to sit on it and wait for recovery in the market for your 401(k), Barack Obama wants it. Now. And he will take it too. Make no mistake about it. Get that Democracy thing out of your head. We are headed somewhere else. I am especially headed somewhere else, because I am too close to retirement to let these thieves turn me into their poor dependent.
Gee, if I didn’t know *better* I would think they are trying to eliminate the middle class just like Reverend Wright and other Socialists, Marxists and Communists have in mind. Fox has been talking to the leader of the American Socialist Party off and on, and he’s just THRILLED with all of Obama’s ideas.
We can kiss away any thought of a stock market revival for sure if this idea takes hold of those nutballs on Capital Hill. Seizing 401(k)s will remove even more billions from the system and put it right in the clutches of the same pigs who bankrupted the Social Security pot and put IOUs in place of the money. IOUs they never intended to pay then, and they won’t intend to pay if they seize your 401(k).
Oh and I thought you might want to see one of the comments that was posted at that story. All I could think was, this is some leech who is making his parents pay for his car, the insurance and his cell phone bills. They give him his health insurance too. Then, he hits them up for as many bright shiny objects as possible. He is accustomed to being well taken care of for nothing. In addition to that, he feels Entitled. And he doesn’t much give a crap about his parents’ retirement either. When they run out of money, he will move away:
I’m encouraged that Obama will make our senior citizens earn their paychecks. Michelle spoke at length that people will be made to work and there will be no shortages of volunteering opportunities. Let’s clean up our streets, get seniors out raking leaves, picking up trash, cleaning up dog droppings in our parks, mowing city property, mentoring children in the schools and serving other useful functions. Every government dollar provided should be met with enthusiastic joy and reciprocity by the receiving citizen. An idle citizen is an unappreciated citizen.
No kidding. Some little creep actually wrote that. I’d like to think it was satire. But it’s getting harder to tell with the Obama generation. The scary part is, even if it’s a snide joke, it could end up being very true. Seniors don’t appear to be high on Obama’s list. In fact, nobody is really high on his list, except for Himself. And in ten years, these young people who are accustomed to their parents paying all the bills are going to be out into the world asking, “WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING!!!!?”.
I was recently talking to a person who lived the Great Depression. Sharp as a tack too. He told me that the air smells just like it did then and it looks like government is about to make some of the same mistakes. So in closing: If you have been a responsible person all of your life, paid your mortgage on time, made….gasp…sacrifices to save money for the future, kiss it all goodbye, screwed Comrades. Or hide it all. Now. Because if you think the election lines are long, wait till you see the bread lines.
In any event, now you no longer need to wonder why the Market isn’t recovering. It never will in a Socialist society. I do hope you are not one of the people who will lose a job. But in the meantime, sock it away. Happy Days are not going to be around the corner. But if you are a member of the middle class….you can rest assured you will all be “equalized”.
**Freedom Fairy apologizes to the legendary Margaret Burke-White for the slight changes to her famous photograph.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
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