I Really Hope They're Not Seriously Considering This

[rowyn]

The House Committee on Education and Labor hears testimony on nationalizing* pensions and 401(k) accounts.

Dear Congress:

I do not want a bailout. I do not want to be punished for having chosen to save for my retirement by having my savings taken away from me. I do not want my retirement savings to go bankrupt by the time I'm 65 the way the existing Social Security Administration is going to. In short:

DO NOT WANT.

Please keep your grubby hands off of my investments. K thx.

Love and kisses,
Rowyn

* Edit: shaterri looked at the actual testimony (which I can't do at the moment, so see his comment below), and apparently the article linked above is at the least inflammatory if not outright fabrication: the testifying speaker doesn't advocate "confiscating" existing 401(k)s or pensions. I feel better. Thanks, Shaterri! And I'm sure Congress wouldn't take her seriously even if she had. Really. 99.9% sure, anyway.

Comments

[level-head.livejournal.com]

The $600 is apparently the government's contribution. The prepared speech, oddly, contains many typos and in some cases is quite unclear.

But it's clear that this is an immediate proposal, not gradual -- she is advocating that 401(k) contributions be valued at "mid August" levels, which makes no sense for anything that is not immediate.

Again and again, this is pushed as "fair" because it is taking money from high income earners to fund those too poor to save money.

And the 401(k) system is described as a "failure" because it is not helping poor people.

===|==============/ Level Head