Hold Onto Your Wallets--And Bank Accounts

The U.S. Department of Labor released a news brief about joint hearings by Dept. of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (ESBA) and the Dept. of Treasury in Washington, D.C. this week (9/14 and 9/15). The two departments were to discuss lifetime income options for retirement plans.

The whole philosophy of this proposal is that people who worked diligently for their whole working lives are not capable of doing simple math, and do not have the capacity of self-discipline to manage their own funds, and it is the government responsibility to protect these people from themselves.

What would you say if the federal government just found out it had access to $7.8 trillion, nearly enough to pay off the national debt? Well, they seem to have found it under a mattress, YOURS! This amount is what is reported by Investment Company Institute as the total funds in private IRA, 401K, 427 and 403b accounts, as of 2009. And they are working to get their hands on it.

In an article on American Thinker, Peter Raymond describes this evil scheme. Under investigation at this time is how to access these funds in the guise of protecting the people from their own ignorance. Raymond writes, there will be a two-step process. The state “will fabricate and incessantly excoriate a contrived crisis or social injustice.” Then they will “craft” legislation “disguised as a necessary and compassionate solution that makes participation and universal funding compulsory.”

Another writer quoted in Raymond’s article, Patrick Heller, wrote a warning to individuals and small businesses to protect their wallets and bank accounts. Don’t be caught up in this folly of being too stupid to protect yourself.

Heller wrote that the government will start by throwing around terms such as “retirement income protection.” The government will then take ownership of assets in IRA and 401K accounts and replace them with US government “Treasury Retirement Bonds.” They are proposing an interest rate of 3%, as most banks now pay squat on certificates of deposit and other savings accounts. Then, Heller says, at the time of retirement “the individual’s retirement account would be converted into an annuity. Once the individual is deceased, the individual’s heirs would not inherit anything.” The account will be closed, and the government gets to keep all these funds.

The reason for this move is: these funds become available to individuals in one-lump sum at retirement age, and the government claims they (the people) are too ignorant to do the math. Say you are 65 when you cash in your IRA or 401K, and you hope to life to be 100. If you have $500,000 in your retirement, you need to divide by 35 (years) to come up with how much you can withdraw each your, (about $14,285 per year.) (Forget any interest, as there might not be enough to worry about.) The government wants to create this “Treasury Retirement Bonds” scheme to protect individuals from running out of money before they die.

If you believe them, your heirs will lose access to these funds upon your death. And YOU will lose access to these funds should you need them for emergencies, changes in lifestyle situations, nursing home payments of self or loved ones, or to bequeath to your grandchildren.

You say, this can’t be happening! GM was taken over by the Feds, as was Chrysler Corp. The stocks of Americans, valued in the millions, was turned over to the unions. Brazil already confiscated their citizens' retirement accounts in 2008.

This thievery must be stopped before it goes any farther. Contact your legislators and tell them emphatically that you do not need the government’s help to supervise and manage your own accounts.

When you walk through a street and a person puts his hand in your pocket to steal your wallet, you can do something about it. But, for some reason, Congress can lie and steal and, what happens to them? They usually get reelected!