Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Will Obama Seize Americans' 401k and IRA Funds?
There is a rumor floating around that Obama will seize Americans' retirement funds, like Argentina and some other countries have done.
Two investment newsletters - Green Chip Review and The Mining Speculator - have recently claimed that the 401k seizure is a sure thing.
Is this just crazy talk, or is there something to it?
And in October of 2008, the idea of confiscating private 401k and IRA accounts and replacing them with government accounts gained wide traction. See this, this, this, and this.
But are those plans still in the works, or has the idea been abandoned?
In January, Larry Grossman, Managing Director of Sovereign International Pension Services, said:
10 comments:
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For those of you who foolishly believe that "only Republicans raid peoples money with bailouts for bankers",wait until you see the clever lockpicking done by these Dems when it comes to gaining access to your paychecks and pensions.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, conducted a hearing during October 2008 in which this very subject, confiscation of 401(k) and ERISA funds and replacement with government bonds paying a 'guaranteed' 3% and managed by the SSA was discussed. Miller 6 weeks later denied such intentions but the record speaks to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteBy the time they get around to it, there won't be anything left to raid. I fear the state pensions were already heavily invested in unsound assets, and if everyone else's 401k looks like mine, well...
ReplyDeleteI came to this site because I heard the site's owner interviewed on a progressive talk show. I don't remember the content of the interview but at least I though that this guy sounded rational.
ReplyDeleteBoy was I wrong. Why are you people spouting such nonsense?
"but the record speaks to the contrary"
What record is that?
I am so sorry I wasted my time to even make the note to check out this site.
What a waste.
Sammy
It's a bit hard to imagine. But I suppose what could happen is that the government could declare the 401k's in need of better governance and declare that they are going to manage them. Would that be a seizure? Yes, but they'd never call it that.
ReplyDeleteI find it way out there though. But then I also used to think that our government wouldn't be forcing company boards to get rid of CEO's or taking voting shares in banks.
Perhaps what will happen before a 401k seizure would be a return to making it illegal for private citizens to own gold.
how about you guys go here to read a bit more before making such assumptions. supporting data links available here as well:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_congressional_democrats_talking_about_confiscating_ira.html
WALL STREET JOURNAL
ReplyDeleteWSJ - 401(k)s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes
MAY 5, 2009
Some investors in 401(k) retirement funds who are moving to grab their money are finding they can't.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124148012581385199.html
In 1933 FDR promised the nation in his first press conference that he would not take the US off the gold standard, then he stole everyone's gold (executive order 6102 on April 5) and replaced it with paper money. The next year, after all the gold had been collected, he devalued the paper currency to 66% of its original value, in effect stealing from everyone. Many people see Obama as another FDR; everyone that's not on welfare or a political donor should be very worried.
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of horseshit.
ReplyDeleteIt is stunning, STUNNING how stupid and ignorant Cons are.
On the other hand, Congressman Bauman and Larry Grossman suggest transferring your retirement assets offshore just to be safe.
ReplyDeleteDisturbing new U.S. law aims to end individual foreign bank accounts
the U.S. government is closing the window for U.S. citizens to protect their assets by moving them offshore. It won’t be long before it will be punitively expensive to move any amount of money overseas for any purpose.