[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ave you not been paying attention to the "dollar crash" thread? Allow me to refer you to Obama's "Mark Iwry" paper.

[rangerone314]

http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=128922

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou did the responsible thing. You saved in your IRA or 401(k) to support your retirement, when you could have spent that money on another vacation, or an upscale car, or fancier clothes and jewelry. But now Washington is developing plans for your retirement savings.

BusinessWeek reports that the Treasury and Labor departments are asking for public comment on "the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams."

In plain English, the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.

They will tell you that you are "investing" your money in U.S. Treasury bonds. But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds.

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')ne of the nation's largest labor unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is promoting a plan that will centralize all retirement plans for American workers, including private 401(k) plans, under one new "retirement system" for the United States.

In effect, government pensions for everyone, not unlike the European system and regardless of personal choice.

The SEIU, which was integral to the election of Barack Obama as president, is working with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, on SEIU's plan, called "the Retirement USA Initiative."

Claiming that the retirement system in place now has "failed most Americans," EPI vice president Ross Eisenbrey, told a labor union publication that "account balances have fallen by a third since late 2007, leaving many older workers unable to retire just as our economy is shedding millions of jobs.”

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury
(the ``Agencies'') are currently reviewing the rules under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the plan qualification rules
under the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to determine whether, and, if
so, how, the Agencies could or should enhance, by regulation or
otherwise, the retirement security of participants in employer-
sponsored retirement plans and in individual retirement arrangements
(IRAs) by facilitating access to, and use of, lifetime income or other
arrangements designed to provide a lifetime stream of income after
retirement.