Would the Demokrats really be stupid enough to do this? At best, it would destroy the economy overnight.
Granted, most of looney quotes in this article come from a certain professorette Teresa Ghilarducci and her paper, "Agenda for Shared Prosperity." But it does not bode well that she was invited to testify before Congress.
Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts
Democratic leaders in the U.S. House discuss confiscating 401(k)s, IRAs
By Karen McMahan
November 04, 2008
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...
...The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration....
The appalling details of the plan are too extensive to quote at length. Check out the links.
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Ropes and trees are WAY too slow for that kind of malfeasance. I'm thinking full auto.
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If Obama wants to burn through ALL of his political capital right off the bat, this would be a great way. A bunch of the young(under 30) Obama supporters have 401(K)s. While they've taken a major hit this year on their accounts, surveys indicate that more people under 30 believe in UFOs than believe Social Security will be around when they retire.
As for myself, the day Congress passes legislation to seize my IRA, is the day I withdraw it all, paying the full tax rate plus penalty.
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If Obama wants to burn through ALL of his political capital right off the bat, this would be a great way. A bunch of the young(under 30) Obama supporters have 401(K)s. While they've taken a major hit this year on their accounts, surveys indicate that more people under 30 believe in UFOs than believe Social Security will be around when they retire.
As for myself, the day Congress passes legislation to seize my IRA, is the day I withdraw it all, paying the full tax rate plus penalty.
+1
I may do it if the bill gets out of committee. Why wait? I'm not counting on the Senate Republicans.
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I've got a lot less to tax in my 401K than I did 6 months ago and it's pretty clear to me a large share of the blames lies at the feet of community organizers and the Dems in Congress.
I say bring it on. Try and tax our 401K's. That just might wake up the clueless middle into thinking about the substance -- not just the symbolism of "The One's" skin pigmentation.
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I saw this a couple days ago, and I've stopped all contributions into my 401k for the time being. Yes I'll lose a small amount in company matching, but I'd rather have my contributions in my bank account rather than stuck in a 401k that suddenly dissapears.
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Bill Clinton back in the 90's had a similar plan to do a one time tax on all retirements accounts, but that pesky problem of BJ-gate got in the way.
However, I can see the Feds trying to do something because they see huge piles of money and not only do they want it, the need it. The US government is a life form and it will take whatever it needs to survive, the people be dammed.
This is how easy they could take the 401K and IRA plans-they promise all the people that has lost money under the evil Bush administration, a guarantee to make up to 40% of their lost funds if they join the United States new retirement fund, pared with the social security. However, they will not be able to get to the funds until the age of 63, and withdrawls will be limited to 4% per year. If you die, 1/2 of the remaining funds belong to the government. This would be easy to do since the Feds can just print money and by the time you get the money a dollar at age 63 might be worth 40% of what a dollar buys now.
If I see congress inact such a law, I would do the same thing, cash out all accounts-
Come on guys. No one's gonna confiscate your 401k/IRAs. The only reason this was even heard (actually, someone testified before congress to the effect) was because of the looming problem of an unfunded social security program.
In reality what will likely happen is some combination of early buyouts and raising of eligible age.
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