IMO, this appears to be another method by the democrats to destroy the "middle class" and make me more dependent upon the government for my well-being.
A 3% annual return on investment. That does not even keep up with inflation.
Guess this is part of "The Change" we are going to get. dems keep your hands for my retirement plans.
They want the 401k money because their other great retirement savings plan idea - social security - isn't working out so well.
They already, in effect, take some it by taking other retirement income above certain limits.
They are robbers operating under the force of law.
Social security has worked out very well for many years.
It's been of great benefit to my 94 year old mother.
It is in danger now because we elected George Bush instead of Al Gore in 2000.
Gore would have protected it (Put it in a lock box) for the Baby Boomer's retirement.
Instead, Bush has spent the money on war.
Isn't war great?
You will say anything won't you? SS has not worked out well for anyone. First, it was doomed to failure because it was paying people who had never paid in, and every generation since then has not been putting up money for themselves, but money for the previous generation. Which means you and I don't have any. Second, it is a bad investment. There is nothing sound in the principles of SS. Third, it wasn't spent on the war. That's simply nonsense. It wasn't spent on the war anymore than it was spent on earmarks, and welfare, and all the other social handouts that our government gives out. Were it not for the welfare state we have created, there would be plenty of money to prosecute a war.
And you are deceived if you think Al Gore would have put it in a lock box. He was making that up. Remember, all the Dems have been telling us that SS is fine. When Bush wanted reforms, they said no. So whatever social security problems there are, the Democrats refused to address it.
Here's the fix to social security: Cancel it immediately, send everyone their money, and get the government out of the retirement business.
Not so!
Social security was a failure from the start!
It started with a promise that was very quickly broken.
It's just another tax - not a personal savings.
It has no cash value.
It can't be passed on as part of your estate.
It has had a very poor return on investment.
It's been used to enslave us to the government for our retirement years.
It's another way to redistribute wealth.
It's used to buy votes from senior citizens.
The danger of it's failure was been building long before President Bush even thought about getting into politics.
War is terrible but winning a necessary one for a just cause - such as those we've fought and are fighting - is a blessing that leads to freedom or the preservation of it.
The cost of war - in dollars - is nothing compared to all the social re-engineering efforts of government.
George Bush campaigned in 2000 on a promise to reform Social Security.
He had a six year Republican Congress, and would of had an eight year if they both had done their job.
Nothing got done.
This was the perfect opportunity to reform it to allow for private investment in the vehicle of our choice.
If the Wall Street thieves had not been ripping off the American people for years, then investments in bonds, stocks, and even money markets would have beat Social Security.
Thanks to the liberal socialization of America under the Bush administration, the Social Security issue never got off the ground.
Now, due to his inept leadership, Obama and a hugh Democratic majority are on the verge of election, and nothing again will get done.
Another vote for putting our entire future hopes in the market that just crashed. Glad we didn't listen to you or we'd have Seniors trying to find a job in a time of record unemployment. :thumbs:
Also, the biggest problem with SS is the legislators keep taking the money for other spending projects. If they would leave the money alone and return the money they "borrowed" the system would keep a float. It is also not just for folks in retirement years, it also supports those disabled and not able to otherwise support themselves. You do have compassion for a quadriplegic or someone bed ridden don't you?
Lastly, SS can't be considered "redistributing the wealth" since every tax bracket pays the same percentage and qualifies for a check. Remember, Reagan was getting his check while in the oval office?
Bush was filibustered & blocked when he tried to privatize SS. Don't blame him, blame the RHINOs at the time.
SS was a socialist money grab, in the first place. We were never meant to get that money, and now that people live 25 years longer than they did when FDR was prez, the ponzi scheme has crumbled.
I will thank them, they made a good move. The system would be broke and Seniors will be looking for jobs with the recent crash.
SS isn't socialist but ok think what you want. What is breaking the system is all the IOU's from the legislators who keeps taking the money for other programs. Why would they keep taking the money if the programs is crumbling like you say? If they are that stupid, maybe we should vote them all out.
I agree with two points 100%.
Social Security was never meant to be 100% of anyone's retirement.
Savings and company 401ks or whatever was meant to be most of what we live on.
The other point is, if it ever should have started, it should have been paid out on the basis of how much one paid into the scheme.
Today, it is staggered by a generation.
You are correct.
Bush tried, and most of the blame rests with the RHINO Congress.
It is pretty bad when you cannot get your own party to get onboard your program.
That's not what us non-market types believe. You see that's the key to the problem, you are asking people to put their money in something they know nothing about. Our biggest fear is the unknown so this would be hard to sell except on wall street...
And they're selling and not buying.
I am not asking you to do any such thing. You probably know less about social security than you do about the market. As a person approaches retirement age, more of their money is moved into fixed income annuity type investments. There is nothing unknown about them. They pay a guaranteed return.
And yes, you have to teach people, but that's life. You do have to teach people about a lot of stuff.
No he isn't because we are shipping him back to your state where he belongs really soon.
Seriously, there is a Democratic proposal floating around to take away the tax deduction for 401ks and IRAs, and also to take the tax deduction away from employers for matching funds.
GM stopped matching funds for their employees this week.
It's worked out so well that my fraile, disabled parents had to go to court to get their SS benefits and have had to have regular reviews to see if the Govt still deems them worthy. It's worked out so well that they are earning a ROR worse than what you'd get at a local bank's savings account.
God bless your 94 year old mom. I'm grateful she's gotten every cent the govt chose to give her through SS. But I would much rather prefer she have more
money, and the SS bandits in Washington (who precede and perhaps even preclude GW Bush, but you know that already) wont let your mom or my parents live the life of dignity they worked so hard to get. And the two bandits running for office now haven't proposed one meaningful solution yet. So unless someone steps up to fix the problem, you and I will be forced to live under the same albatross.
Exactly. And millions of people put money into IRAs and other plans every day. But the problem is no one wants responsibility for their own actions. Laziness is the bane of America
And fixed income investments are not broke. I see them sold every hour of every day by the dozens, in savings, annuities, CDs, time deposits, etc.