Scrapping the 401k deduction

[maat55]

I'm appalled at how these people think that OUR untaxed money is THEIR investment for us. This article describes how Argentina socialized its private retirement investments and how we might find a simular outcome.


Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said that since "the savings rate isn't going up for the investment of $80 billion [in 401(k) tax breaks], we have to start to think about whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that's not generating what we now say it should."

Another quote by Ghilarducci say's:

“I want to stop the federal subsidy of 401(k)s,” Ghilarducci said in an interview. “401(k)s can continue to exist, but they won’t have the benefit of the subsidy of the tax break.”

Before this year, I would have never believed this type of Socialism could happen. But now I'm concerned. With the Dems. having full control, who can say what will happen. This is not an attempt to bash Dems. but to state that: Socialism is a weak system. An example is how welfare produced dependency. Just as sad is that the Republicans did nothing to stop us from getting here. IMO, Self-reliancy and Capitalism is the only true fix for this problem.

Would Obama, Dems Kill 401(k) Plans? - Capital Commerce (usnews.com)

[kork13]

this came up in another thread, and I agree.... it's infuriating. However, I think I'm starting to get overly hostile around here, so i'll keep it cool for now...

If you read the article, it lays out the flaws pretty clearly. However, he missed one.... ignorance on the part of those representing us, then wanting to make decisions based on that ignorance.

Originally Posted by maat55

I'mRep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said that since "the savings rate isn't going up for the investment of $80 billion [in 401(k) tax breaks], we have to start to think about whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that's not generating what we now say it should."

This tells me that the guy knows nothing about what he's talking about. DisneySteve and I discussed this in another thread--the savings rate does not include any investments (including 401k's, IRA's, or regular taxable investments); it does not include anything to do with home-ownership; it does not include Money Markets. The savings rate he's talking about ONLY monitors what is is put into bank deposit accounts--checking, savings, and maybe CD's (I'm not certain on this count). He's citing a broken statistic, and making very frightening statements and recommendations based completely on that broken statistic.


Any Washington residents around who can, as they say, "FIX YOUR BOY!"??