By Neal Boortz @ October 12, 2010 9:03 AM Permalink | Comments (34) | TrackBacks (0)
For 16 years I’ve been telling you that if the Democrats gained enough power in Washington, they would attempt to seize the money you have in your 401K, IRA and private pension plans. Many of you poo-pooed me, calling me “over-the-top” or unable to back up my claims.
Maybe you might be interested in knowing that just last Thursday, a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on retirement savings and security. WebGuy forwarded me lots of emails of people asking me to prove it. So here you go. You can watch the committee meeting right here … and then you can be more entertained by turning to watch the paint dry on your walls. Or you can read this summary of the meeting from Connie Hair at Human events.
The point of the meeting was to figure out ways in which private 401(k) plans could be more “fairly” distributed as taxpayer-funded pensions. Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee, hand-picked the witnesses for the meeting. Who did he chose? People advocating “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts.” Sound familiar? It should. I’ve been telling you about this plan for at least two years.
It is a plan created by Theresa Guilarducci and it would seize private retirement accounts, set up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax, and then use the money from the tax and seizure to distribute it “fairly” to Americans. From written hearing testimony submitted by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Vice President Ross Eisenbrey: “… a truly universal system would need to shield low-income workers from out-of-pocket costs or wage cuts. EPI has published and advocated what we feel would be an excellent national supplemental retirement plan, the Guaranteed Retirement Account which was authored by Prof. Teresa Ghilarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. ”
The Democrats got their “universal healthcare.” What’s to make you think that they wouldn’t go for “universal retirement” next? This isn’t some fairytale that I am making up to scare you right before an election. This stuff is actually being discussed in Washington as we speak.
If you leave the Democrats in power I guarantee you that a move will be made to seize private retirement accounts. Those accounts will blended in some way with the Social Security system to guarantee some level of retirement income for every American. The Democrats will have several excuses. They’ll say that they’re afraid people will just take their retirement money and spend it foolishly … and that the government must step in to prevent this. They’ll say that people will borrow irresponsibly against their retirement funds prior to retirement … and the government must step in to prevent this. They’ll say that it just isn’t “fair” that some people are going to enjoy a more comfortable retirement than others .. and the government is here to make things more fair. Whatever the reason, the Democrats will be unable to ignore the trillions of dollars that are sitting – out of their grasp – in these retirement accounts. Brace yourselves. You have 21 days.
