Arkady's Thoughts

There was a story I covered one year ago ago where several lawmakers met to hear a proposal of an outright 401K takeover modeled after the Argentine policy.  At the time it seemed like a far fetched notion, but BusinessWeek ran a story hinting that the threat still exists.  Now the story itself does not outright suggest a takeover, but the following should give you pause. The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort. So as of now the idea is to gently inquire as to whether people would be interested in converting their existing accounts into steady revenue streams.  For laymen this simply means investing into the treasury market and this shou...

Just read a piece that made my blood boil. The story is from Carolina Journal, but I will paste the first paragraph below. Even if you currently do not have a 401k, this is the most dangerous proposal I have ever heard. The only similar example I can think of, would be the gold seizure under FDR. If this proposal becomes legitimate, you MUST write to your local representative, congressman, senator, etc. This will be absolutely crippling to our economy as investors will stage a mass exodus out of the market. If you want a demonstration of this in action, look at Argentina. They just did something very similar. I will keep my eyes on the story and will add further information to demonstrate just how dangerous this is. November 04, 2008 RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Triggered by the...