The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration.
IRA's were first instituted in 1974 largely due to the fact that the SSA retirement funds had become nothing more than a pile of IOU's, courtesy of our elected representatives. There was also a widespread, and well deserved, belief that the SSA could not fund anything more than a subsistence level retirement. In the thirty four years since, there is no indication that either of these conditions have changed.
It would seem that we now have our answer to McCain's question; where will Obama get the money for all his social programs?". He'll get it from the same people he always does, the only people who still have some: us. In the rush to save those “too big to fail”, those who have scrimped and saved all their lives are about to get “thrown under the bus”. If ever there was a case for a healthy dose of obstructionism, this is it.
Thankfully, Mr. Huntington leaves us with a gold nugget to put in our pocket.
“Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to." And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.” — Ronald Reagan, 1964
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2 comments:
I read this yesterday and wondered why you were chasing a Rushesque "sky is falling" off the wall commentary.
Especially when $2 TRILLION is unaccounted for in the last month.
Btw, if you want a synthesis of what Teresa Ghilarducci is talking about instead of a one paragraph distortion, be my guest. It's about saving your IRA - not dissolving it as you have been led to believe.
Another bubble burst under the light of not taking someone's snippets as factual.
The day I need some SSA hack running my retirement in charge of my money, just dig a hole and put me in.
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