Obama the shark
And middle-class savings smells like blood in the water to him, according to Glenn Reynolds:
When a government is desperate for cash, it goes after the middle class, because that’s where the money is. Yes, the rich are rich, but the middle class is far more numerous. And this has raised other fears. As McArdle also notes, if 529 plans aren’t sacrosanct, what about Roth IRAs? People have worried for a while that the government might go after retirement accounts as another source of income ”” to the point that there have even been calls for Congress to make such grabs explicitly off limits. But, ultimately, no one is safe, as what is enacted by one Congress can be repealed by another.
The truth is, in our redistributionist system politicians make their careers mostly by taking money from one group of citizens that won’t vote for them and giving it to another that will. If they run short of money from traditional sources, they’ll look for new revenue wherever they can find it. And if that’s the homes and savings of the middle class, then that’s what they’ll target.
Obama running out of other people’s money? Not quite yet:
Obama can print or generate money until the cows come home, the people protest devaluation of capital and labor, or an alien force invades and forces a settlement. His interest to capture private capital has another motive.
Is Obama a shark? Or has Obama jumped the shark?
n.n. is correct, centeral banks will continue to produce a flood of currency to prop up the financial sector. No need to rile the peasants just yet.
Old joke. If you rob Peter to pay Paul, this will assure you of Paul’s vote. Obama panders to peoples basest emotions, envy, greed, covetousness and avarice. Seems to work.
There should be a tipping point. The 47% who pay no income tax should not be able to go on indefinitely. I have a fear that after the gravy train runs dry, it will not be pretty.
It will pay to invest in metals: Brass, lead, copper jackets, etc.
I have steadfastly refused to put a cent into a Roth fund, because I have no doubt that the government will reverse the tax-free status on these accounts. I’m also heavily leery of regular 401ks and IRAs, because I suspect that they’ll get nationalized into Federal Retirement Accounts like Argentina has already done.
As the old joke about the Soviet Union goes, you don’t know the story is true until the first time it’s officially denied. With taxes, you don’t know one is coming until someone officially tries to prevent it.
I have since relocated to Tennessee, but in western CT, I endured both the January 96 blizzard and the President’s Day storm of 2003.
Oops, wind blew my comment into the wrong thread!
As timid and vision less as the congressional Republicans have been in the last 6 years, even Rove and Preibus wouldn’t be dumb enough to endorse it. It would be the last nail in the coffin of the establishment to levy taxes on the IRAs and 401-K plans.
The peasants are accustomed to taxes through payroll deduction, but assuming we are talking about a lump sum payment for taxes due, few citizens have ever had to cough up a chunk of cash like that without it making them want to start slitting throats. I can’t believe Obama could pull it off.
Incrementally, I could see the RINOs we’ve got now working a deal, but seems like it would be a kind slow process, and people would adapt to minimize the impact.
I have a couple of 529 plans with low balances. They are hardly worth the trouble and I wouldn’t miss them if they went away. That said, I have had concerns about 401K and IRA plans for a while. I think the government is going to come after them in the future. You know – for your own good and all that! How selfish of you to not spend all of your money and put some away for retirement. The government needs to “invest” in something more important. You know, you didn’t get there by yourself, etc. Blah, blah….
I think the GOP should put Obama’s proposed tax increases up for a vote. All the GOP members will vote against them. Let’s see how many dems vote for them. Remember the Bush tax cuts? The dems did not vote to repeal them for the middle class when they had control of the House. Would they vote for them now that they are in the minority?
Thatcher of course was right that eventually socialists run out of other people’s money. Socialism’s answer is that “you didn’t build that” so private property and assets are only ‘private’ until the State has an inescapable need of it.
Socialism is an economic theory founded upon the rejection of critical aspects of reality and is thus economically unsustainable, as our 47% demonstrate and as the EU’s Greek crisis is about to demonstrate. But they have an answer: “EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap”
Of course they’re going to take our money, for them it’s a matter of survival. Not a case of if but of when.
Will Uncle Sam go after private retirement funds? It really only a question of when. Why shouldn’t the US do what Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Argentina, Ireland, etc. has already done to shore up their debts?
Also, hasn’t the Obama administration already floated the idea with their “MyRA” plan?
Have a listen:
Mark Levin interviews Dr Ghilarducci about nationalizing 401K’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuLfcROlrSg
One commentator, perhaps the insightful McArdle, said that this plan is Obama’s way of taking money from your children’s education to offer a free education to his constituents.
We are in uncharted territory. At least for the modern (1860 – present) era. In the modern era printing of money by central banks has always led to inflation and devaluation of money. Since 2008 central banks have bought bonds and other financial assets with billions of newly created currencies. Yet, we languish on the edge of deflation, not inflation. Japan has been creating new yen, bailing out their banks, and propping up their major corporations for 25 years now. Yet, they are still in deflation mode. The Eurozone is deep in debt and going deeper, yet their economy is barely alive.
It is a head scratcher for economists. The world’s economies are not responding as they always have since the 1800s. I admit that I have no idea what is happening. Nor do I have any idea what is coming. Those of us who are retired and are living off our life savings are in a bind. We cannot earn much on risk-free money, but the situation in the equities markets is so bizarre and risky that the only way we feel safe to participate is as a trader. In some instances as a day trader.
It is always possible, I guess, that at some point the money creation will reach a stage where things revert back to the norm and inflation returns with a vengeance. If that occurs, our retirement nest eggs will all lose value unless we are smart and nimble enough to be in commodities at the right time. Good luck to us all on that point.
If the government comes in and takes some or all of those savings, I suppose retirees like me will be forced to live on Social Security alone. Such a move by the government would, IMO, result in such a massive protest by the retired and near retired, that it would reverberate around the country in the form of violence by grey panthers.
But who knows? I never would have believed the citizenry would put up with the things that Obama has done to this point. Of course, I would never have believed that we would add $8 trillion to the debt in 6 years. (An 80% increase from the $10 billion at the beginning of his term.) The taxers and spenders (the Democrats) are desperate for new money to spend (which they call investing) on their utopian ideas. No one’s money is really safe.
When its government against every man (woman and child) government loses in a country where there are 90 firearms per 100 people. It, if it comes down to it, will be a bloodbath, but so it goes. The fascists know not what they wish for. They will keep pushing but have not a clue what push back entails. Unintended consequences beyond the imagination of CNN and the rest of the alphabet soup gang.
you listen to “Dr.” Ghilarducci and realize there is a layer of the population with there is no way to reach a common ground.
TWANCLOC
Those, Who, Are, No, Longer, Our, Countrymen.
Battle for Spain!
“It is no good thinking someone else will pay; that someone else is you.”
Very true words spoken by Thatcher; however, I don’t have enough faith in the American voter to understand that. Especially after voting for Obama twice; too many Americans think that they will get the free ride while someone else pays.
Or has Obama jumped the shark?
What does the old tv reference for jumping sharks have to do with winning or losing a war?
U.S.S. Indianapolis.
U.S.S. Indianapolis. See Jaws
And to think the Founding Fathers started a rebellion and an eight-year war over a tax. We are not their inheritors, except geographically.
Ymarsakar:
This Administration has stepped out of bounds so many times that we’ve lost count — and been forgiven for it, each time. But they mount up just the same.
Sooner or later, they will take a step too far. Sooner or later, a voice of reason will call out, loud and clear: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Are we approaching that moment, with the President trying to ransack savings accounts for our children’s educations? That’s what I was asking.