Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts

RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.

It gets worse:

Analysts point to another disturbing part of the plan. With a GRA, workers could bequeath only half of their account balances to their heirs, unlike full balances from existing 401(k) and IRA accounts. For workers who die after retiring, they could bequeath just their own contributions plus the interest but minus any benefits received and minus the employer contributions.

www.carolinajournal.com...

LOL.. yeah, see this is how it works... while "saving" our 401k's.. cough, they seize 4.5 Trillion Dollars.

You know there isn't a separate social security budget, it goes to the general coffers.... THINK WHAT 4.5 Trillion can do! They can loot this money and spend it all on all of these "free" programs and at the end of 4 years they can gloat and say there is a budget surplus!

Get it... enough money to pay for social re-engineering for 4 to 8 years... gloat over their victory and the next guy get's stuck with funding these programs after all the money is gone.

Have no doubt.. this is attempted theft of 4.5 Trillion of citizens money... plain and simple.

This isn't just rich people, it's everyone. Most factory jobs offer 401k's. I can't see making 23,000 a year and putting in 401k all these years and gov says nope you aren't smart enough to take care of it. We'll do it for you.

Cash em out now folks. The gov will take care of them for you if you don't.

I wonder if it occured to the OP that this is the Paranormal Section.

I've been hearing some stuff about this, and quite frankly it is one of my greatest fears of an Obama administration with complete control of the executive and legislative branch. I've managed to preserve both my roth IRA and a 401k rollover through this mess by getting the hell out almost a year ago. (still play around short term with non-retirement money)I'm particularly concerned about my Roth. The Democrats have been waiting for the chance to change the deal on Roths almost since they were invented. For those that do not know the difference between a roth and non-roth IRA it basically boils down to this. You may deduct contributions to a IRA up to $4000 a year from your yearly income and when it comes time to withdraw, you are taxed according to your tax rate at the time of withdrawal. Roth-IRAs are different, you contribute post-tax income into a Roth when it is time to withdraw, you don't pay taxes on it. Roths also are more lenient in allowing you to withdraw from them for certain purposes. You can see why Dems would love to change/seize Roths due to the tax free nature at retirement.

I do believe that the remaining amount in IRAs and 401ks are being eyed by certain Democrats as a way to fund programs that they would like to have. I hope they try it, it will show us their true colors, and wake some people up from the spell they are currently under.

I've heard some speculation other than outright siezure that bears some mention as well. In the early nineties it was briefly mentioned in the Clinton administration to have a one time "excise tax" of 10% to fund national healthcare. I've also heard some discussion of requiring a certain percentage of 401ks to be required to be in US treasuries. This would help keep borrowing costs down for US debt by forcing the population to buy it when, not if the foreign appetite for US debt subsides.

Watch any discussion of changes to 401k, IRA, and roth accounts like a hawk. What Wall Street hasn't already looted the government has its eye on.

[edit on 6-11-2008 by jefwane]

I am beyond words.....

That ticks me off beyond belief. I noticed that they didn't say anything about giving the other half back to the employer. I guess they get to keep that money for themselves....

“humans often lack the foresight, discipline, and investing skills required to sustain a savings plan.”

This completely takes the cake. Oh yes, the government can do so much better than me at managing my money. I could just scream.

reply to post by Angry Potato


Sorry Guys No it did not occur to me. Thankfully Mods are on the job!

reply to post by jefwane


I also see them targeting HSA accounts, as they are seen to be used only by "upper middle class" .. Which is basically a Health Savings Account / IRA that is not taxed, is deducted from yearly earnings, up to I believe $2,500 and so long as one person has an HSA account, anyone in the family can use the funds, tax free, for ANY form of health expenses.

It's an excellent plan created under Bush for families that pay premiums but don't go to the hospital.. by the time an emergency happens, they could have 10k in there to cover deductibles and so on.

Dems don't like the HSA's.. they want them gone.

Why are you people so outraged, why I should get outraged.

Two months ago we all just bend over and took what the government shoved up our behinds with giving away our treasury department to the Fed.

We didn't do a darn thing about it.

And when this comes down the line we will still be bending over and take it again.

When we get the balls to march down Washington with a firing a squat then our corporate corrupted government may start once again been afraid of the people.

reply to post by ohioriver



Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am so mad right now I can't stand it. I have sent out a mass email with the article to spread the word. We cannot allow this to happen!

Nothing like the government trying to prop up the Social Security administration, which is gonna fail anyways, with savings that are many of us intended to use as retirement because we all knew that Social Security will fail.

For us common people, co-mingling is illegal. For the government, it is a normal practice. The government is going to take our retirement money, use it for their spending and political benefit, and promise to pay us back later. There should be some serious outrage over this. We are going to get a worthless IOU.

Surely you are not trying to be selfish. Come one lets spread the wealth.

Be a true patriot and stop crying about your money.



Raist

Well lets me explain myself, because I have been threatened with been reported to the Secret service for my post, I will have to explain that firing squat is not by any means the death of any members of our hard working government but rather the release of the our government from their duties as like been fired by the people.

So I guess now I will be in the most watched list due to my post or so that is what a member told me.

reply to post by marg6043


Just take water guns and water balloons filled with red dye in them.

Not really much of a threat then, accept to their designer clothes. But hey they can buy more with our 401ks.

Raist

That is a great idea but as you know we the people are vulnerable to those in power. I imagine that they will be able to afford plenty of designer clothes at the expenses of tax payer money.

Meanwhile the rest of the nation just have to find bargains on consignment stores.

This entire scheme is just another case of the government thinking that we are too dumb to handle our own money. Maybe we are. After all, I don't pay for anything on credit, I don't have any loans, and as a result, I don't buy anything that I can't afford. By government standards, that makes me dumb. After all, the SMART government buys everything on credit, buys all sorts of things, like wars, brokerage firms, auto makers, that they really can't afford, and just takes more money from you and me. I guess we REALLY are STUPID!
However, just let them TRY to take my 403B away from me. They won't succeed. I guarantee that!

reply to post by marg6043


I have not bought new clothes in years, well aside from socks and underwear.

I bought two pair of the same shoes at a great price 6-7 years ago. One of those pair is still brand new in the box. My work shoes (steel toe) are about 3 years old and will be replaced at the beginning of next year.

Nothing designer that is for sure. Most of my clothes are T shirts and jeans, nothing special. Not really a fashion sort of guy anyway. But I would like to keep my 401k for what it is worth.

Oh well let’s spread the wealth it will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Our government would not lie to us they are trusting and care about us.

Raist

My friend with all the loses that many have experienced with the markets woe, I wonder if this scheme to take private Retirement accounts is to keep the people away from learning how much they are losing.

My husband received a letter two week ago telling him that is going to be harder to take loans or retrieve money from its retirement account.

I don't know how many of you out there has received the same letter.