Any more news about Democrat plan to sieze 401(k) accounts?

[Questor]

I haven't heard anything about this since November when Democrats in congress were supposedly holding hearings on siezing 401(k) assets and converting them to government social security accounts yielding 3%.

Obama was supposedly in favor of signing such a bill.

Have you see anything new about it?

[Heavy C]

What I heard today was that it was not to be a seizure of 401(k) assets but the implementation of a retirement program like SS for those companies that do not currently have any kind of retirement plan to offer their employees.

Quite frankly forcing people to save 1% of their pay along with a matching 1% from the employer is ridiculous.  What about those companies that can't afford to make those contributions?  That's probably why they don't have a retirement plan to begin with.

Personally, I think the whole plan stinks to high heaven.  The government has mis-managed SS and they will screw the pooch on this one too.  Beware of anyone that says the government will be there to take care of you!

Anyway Questor, the last I heard today is that both programs would run concurrently.  If you already have a 401(k); then you don't have to participate in SS part deux.

[magooch]

Yeah, wait for that to happen.  The SS system has obligations that are coming due that must come out of the treasury.  First to pay back the system for all that was loaned to the treasury and then to pay for the deficiency that is soon to follow.  Anyone who is allowed to opt out of the system will only increase the shortage of funds to pay the benefits that are owed.  It is a pay as you go plan that is doomed to failure; it's just a matter of time.  The good part is that I'm getting mine and hopefully, by the time it all goes tits up, I won't have any need for it.  Wait a minute; that could go in a direction I'm not ready for.  Let me rephrase that.  Hopefully by the time it fails, I'll be older than really old dirt....  Aww forget it; there's no good way to put it.

[jk3006]

The good part is that I'm getting mine and hopefully, by the time it all goes tits up, I won't have any need for it.  Wait a minute; that could go in a direction I'm not ready for.  Let me rephrase that.  Hopefully by the time it fails, I'll be older than really old dirt....  Aww forget it; there's no good way to put it.

Yes, SS and Medicare will be more than enough to bankrupt this country without any help from the plenty of other mismanaged programs as well. 

[alsaqr]

ersonally, I believe there is alot of myth surrounding the so-called trouble that SS is suppose to be in...mostly generated by those that have their eyes set on getting a big slice of that pizza, or on swindling the program of funds. Actually, SS is relatively easy to repair; and it has been one of the most successful Annuity AND Insurance programs the world has ever seen.; as long as the funds are not further allowed to be siphoned off or absconded.

Exactly. 

Have studied Social Security extensively.  My thesis for my DBA will be written on SS.  The problem now is that politicians have reduced it to a kind of Ponzi scheme.  They have squandered the surplus SS funds for 40 years.  When SS ceases to run a surplus the government would have to start paying recipients out of the general fund.  This would have a double whammy effect on the budget deficit and they never intend to pay it back. 

Oh, they have this so called "social security trust fund" that has no funds at all.  Who in hell ever heard of a trust fund that holds no funds.  "Sorry, Junior, no Harvard for you.  Your trust fund has a funny balance.  Your mom and i squandered all your college money on cars, that summer cabin and the boat."

[magooch]

The SS system has not had a surplus for forty years; it has since Raegan was President.  By law, the surplus can only be loaned to the US Treasury.  So it was a scheme that is bound to run into trouble.  And if anyone thinks it is going to be easy to fix it, they must be using "new math."

I think the politicians were counting on people working longer (retiring later), but everyone I know is retiring earlier and drawing SS as soon as they are eligible.  Any politician who seriously tries to raise the retirement age is going to get a lesson in reality.  They can talk all they want about how folks are living longer and are healthier--easy to do if all you do is sit at a desk.  Try hard physical, back breaking labor for forty years.

The advent of programs like 401 Ks and IRAs have made it possible for people to retire earlier, but it's no sure thing if you don't learn real quick that "easy come, easy go" is what the stock market is all about. 

I hate the idea of government regulations, but something should be done to stop the highway robbery that goes on with investment companys.  Mutual funds have turned into rip off schemes that are designed and managed for the benefit of the firm and not the investor.

[alsaqr]

The SS system has not had a surplus for forty years; it has since Raegan was President.

 

Not so. 

The old age retirement part of social security has run a surplus every year since at least the 1950s.  In 1968 the politicians in DC decided to spend the surplus every year.  It is the Medicare portion of social security that is in trouble:   That trouble was amplified with the addition of prescription drug benefits.