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| Economy |
| US May Follow Argentina By Nationalizing 401(k) and IRAs Into T-Bills |
| 2010-01-09 |
| U.S. investors oppose federal initiatives that would force them to give up control over their 401(k) accounts, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) said. Seven in 10 U.S. households object to the idea of the government requiring retirees to convert part of their savings into annuities guaranteeing a steady payment for life, according to an institute-funded report today. The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort. The institute's member companies manage $11.6 trillion of assets in mutual funds, including employer-sponsored 401(k) accounts. Some lawmakers have questioned the public-policy value of the tax benefits for people investing in retirement accounts, the ICI said in a report today. In Argentina, $29B was seized this way, then immediately used to pay down debt, not saved, using the same gimmick as the US Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) money paid by employees, that was supposed to go for their Social Security, but was immediately spent. In this case, the "promise" is that substantial interest or losses will be replaced with a fixed 2-3% interest for retirement savings. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #19 These Chicago Mobsters are intent on shaking down 300 Million Americans of everything they own. |
| Posted by: Chereting Snetch4156 2010-01-09 22:39 |
| #18 Cover your forced "investment" with by shorting T-Bonds? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-01-09 22:15 |
| #17 OldSpook - When they take the IRAs from the Mafia hit men.... their lives are going to get really interesting.... I don't doubt they have IRAs. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-01-09 21:15 |
| #16 They do this, I'm getting my gun and hunting Congressmen. At least that way, I'll be guaranteed 3 meals and a roof over my head, more than I 'll have left if they steal away my savings and slop it into such a crap vehicle as T-Bills. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-01-09 21:02 |
| #15 CrazyFool: Yes, there was a House subcommittee hearing on the subject in December 2008, led by Rep. "Baghdad" Jim McDermott IIRC. If this business about a call for comment is true, Borzi and Iwry need to be hung upside-down by their shoelaces from third-story windows of their respective office complexes, pour encourager les autres. Also? A little discouraging that three in ten Americans are so utterly economically illiterate (or fiscally malicious!) as to think this sort of nationalization is a good idea. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-01-09 20:38 |
| #14 Wasn't there some discussion about something like this before. The Government sizing IRA's and 401K's and placing them in a 'Social Security' type program -- so that everyone has a fair share.... Meaning they will take the savings I scrimpted and saved for decades and give it to Tom Asshole down the street who has wasted his money on Boats, hot cars, extravagant vacations, etc.. Or the Illegal alien who hasn't paid a dime in his entire life toward taxes.... To hell with the tar and feathers - Doesn't Washington DC have lamp posts? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-01-09 19:13 |
| #13 You look at everything BOA has done, and who has been appointed, and the czars, ad nausium, and you can see that this is a socialist-communist takeover of this country. I honestly believe that dem congress critters are too stupid to see this. The term "useful idiots" comes to mind. This is just the beginning. Then they will control your bank account, and then your home and property. Think I'm crazy. Ask the spirits of the Russians in Moscow that eventually had their homes taken over after 1917. America better get its rectal/cranial inversion solved before it is too late. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-01-09 18:52 |
| #12 They'll do it by stealth. I'll bet they'll make the funds you buy in your 401K account have to buy a certain %age of T-Bills for stability (i.e. Using inflation as a tax). |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-01-09 18:44 |
| #11 Try it, you bastards. Please try it. Give us a really, really good reason to escalate the results of November's elections from "turning you out of office" to "anointing you with boiling tar and chicken feathers." |
| Posted by: RIcky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2010-01-09 18:31 |
| #10 #9 -- looks like a great idea, I'm in. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-09 18:00 |
| #9 So I should create an offshore company. Buy its stock with my online IRA trading account. Have it go bankrupt .. secreting its assets in a numbered trading account in the Caymens. And to make it easy for everybody else... set up a web page out of the Caymens to do it? Idiots |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-01-09 17:06 |
| #8 Though it is true a great many Americans have 401(k)s and IRAs, I don't know that it is a majority, and it certainly won't be a majority once illegal immigrants get (more of) the vote. To provide for the majority of net recipients of government support, the government is going to have to take heavily from the remaining minority; that strategy leads to re-election. (Even a lot of IRA holders won't dare object, because their IRAs are worth less than their Social Security, and they will be afraid to lose both.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-01-09 16:33 |
| #7 Folks, you've got to remember that to the government, there is no such thing as "your" money. It all belongs to the government. They let you keep some of it for a while. But if you don't spend it wisely in their opinion, they will take it and spend it on more important things, like welfare, bribes and corruption. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-01-09 16:19 |
| #6 I am confident that Rush et al will organize the most voluminous public comment in the history of the nation. And this may give Scott Brown a seat in the Senate. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-01-09 16:17 |
| #5 Although I doubt the word "nationalize" will be used by our elected betters, there shall be no doubt as to the intention. The effects of this, should it be implemented, will be VERY intersting. For them to so directly screw with with individual retirement monies is, I suspect, a place best not visited.... |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2010-01-09 16:09 |
| #4 Is every one else just sick of governments always trying to get more of YOUR money? It seems every time I turn around there is another butthead asking for money/fees/taxes. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-01-09 15:45 |
| #3 this would be a spectacularly stupid overreaching power grab - I fully expect them to try it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-01-09 15:45 |
| #2 Many, many, many middle class, and many, many, working class, people depend on 401K and IRA plans for the bulk of their retirement. I cannot believe the Obama people are so stupid that they don't understand just how angry people would be if their 401K and IRA funds were shifted to government control. That would spark a true revolution. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-01-09 15:39 |
| #1 Makes me double-damned glad I got out of the 401K years ago. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-01-09 15:31 |