Subject: Gov't to Nationalize Retirement
System?
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A recent hearing sponsored by the Treasury and
Labor Departments marked the beginning of the Obama Administration’s
effort to nationalize the nation’s pension system and to eliminate private
retirement accounts including IRA’s and 401k plans, NSC is
warning.
The hearing, held in the Labor Department’s main
auditorium, was monitored by NSC staff and featured a line up of left-wing
activists including one representative of the AFL-CIO who advocated for
more government regulation over private retirement accounts and even the
establishment of government-sponsored annuities that would take the place
of 401k plans.
"This hearing was set up to explore why
Americans are not saving as much for their retirement as they could,"
explains National Seniors Council National Director Robert Crone,
"However, it is clear that this is the first step towards a government
takeover. It feels just like the beginning of the debate over health care
and we all know how that ended
up."
A representative of the liberal Pension Rights Center, Rebecca Davis, testified
that the government needs to get involved because 401k plans and IRAs are
unfair to poor people. She demanded the Obama administration set up a
"government-sponsored program administered by the PBGC (the governments’
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation)." She proclaimed that even "private
annuities are problematic."
Such "reforms" would effectively end private
retirement accounts in America, Crone warns. "These
people want the government to require that ultimately all Americans buy
these government annuities instead of saving or investing on their own.
The Government could then take these trillions of dollars and redistribute
it through this new national retirement
system."
Deputy Treasury Secretary J. Mark Iwry, who
presided over the hearing, is a long-time critic of 401k plans because he
believes they benefit the rich. He also appears to be one of the
Administration’s point man on this
issue.
"This whole issue is moving forward very
quickly," warns Crone. "Already there is a bill requiring all businesses
to automatically enroll their employees in IRA plans in which part of
every employee’s paycheck would be automatically deducted and deposited
into this account. If this passes, the government will be just one step
away from being able to confiscate all these retirement
accounts."
NSC has taken the lead in warning the nation
about this new government onslaught and is plotting ways to stop
it.
"This effort ultimately is designed to grab the
retirement nest eggs of America’s senior citizens. This
new government annuity scheme, even if it is at first optional, will turn
into a giant effort to redistribute the wealth of America’s
older citizens," explains Crone. "This scheme mirrors what I expect the
President will try to do with Social Security. He wants to turn that
program into a welfare program,
too."
NSC will likely unveil a new grassroots campaign
effort later this year or early in January to coincide with the seating of
the new
Congress.
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Posts
8 comments:
Besides the Fact that I cannot find this article on any reputable news site, just blogs, and I'm pretty sure there is already a nationalized pension plan, I'm going to go with a fake on it.
I do like the fear aspect of the article telling old people that Obama is after their 401k/IRA. It is funny how Obama/Democrats asking people to pay their fair share of taxes somehow translates into redistribution of wealth, and the plight of the people making over $250,000.
Is this the same J. Mark Iwry?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703438604575314981332176998.html
Pensions still exist? Coulda fooled this thirtysomething. It's all individual stock market investment now, if you even have that privilege.
I don't know what testimony this e-mail forward is talking about, but here's PRC's testimony to the Senate a few months ago.
The take-away seems to be that these groups are concerned with the lack of opportunity Americans have to save for retirement and want the government to set up more retirement investment in addition to Social Security. Pretty sad that that's being spun as "grabbing the retirement nest eggs of senior citizens."
"Besides the Fact that I cannot find this article on any reputable news site..."
I tried looking up other sources and ended up on a White Supremacist /Nazi message board.
Charming, as you can imagine.
I also ended up at World Nut Daily.
Yeah, it's gotta be legit.
3rd Anon -
"...these groups are concerned with the lack of opportunity Americans have to save for retirement and want the government to set up more retirement investment in addition to Social Security."
Yes, I believe that this is the goal - to attempt to make it easier for workers to save more for retirement. The link to the info about J. Mark Iwry discusses this, and I do recall discussions about this over the past few years.
Mr. Iwry indicated concern about potential new (in addition to current) IRA & 401(k) plans not meeting the needs of lower-wage workers. He indicated that such potential plans would mostly benefit middle & upper income workers who had the ability to save. Mr. Iwry wasn't suggesting - at all - that the govt "steal" current IRAs. In fact, he was exhibiting concern for how the working poor could be enabled save MORE.
This is the kind of deceitful & utterly bogus horseshit that these parasites in rightwing think tanks engage in. Look: everyone should be far MORE concerned about cuts that WILL be made in Soc Sec & Medicare. Those cuts are endorsed and being pushed on us by the Oligarchy UniParty. So-called "Republicans" and putative "Democrats" - all in thrall to the 1% - will get behind such cuts, as outlined by the Bowles-Simpson Commission.
For me, this is just a big huge lying *distraction.* Getting Seniors' panties in a wad to believe that the Kenyan Usurper in the White House is going to - booga booga booga - steal your 401(k) & IRA savings.
No. That's NOT what's proposed, but citizens - esp the thirtysomething anon - ought to be concerned & up in arms about the gutting of Soc Sec & Medicare that's coming down the pike foisted on us all by both branches of the UniParty.
This is a bunch of crap. What a surpise... NOT.
Feeling concerned about some of the information in this post, I took it upon myself to contact Rebecca Davis from the Pension Rights Center, and got the following reply:
Thanks for your email. I am so curious about this organization national Seniors Council. We have never heard of them before and of course we work with interest groups on both sides of the pension equation. Thanks for reassuring your mother that we want to protect her retirement and not take it away.
I've gotten a lot of questions in the past week and a half regarding this article that is circulating the internet. Let me begin by saying that the hearing I testified at was in September of 2010. I am somewhat perplexed as to why all of a sudden what I said two years ago is making news. You may read what I said in full here:
http://www.pensionrights.org/policy/presentations/100914-statement-on-lifetime-income-options-in-401k-plans.pdf
I think my words speak for themselves and you will see that I was misquoted. I did not say that 401(k) plans are unfair for poor people. I did not say that your money should be taken from you and distributed to others.
My mention that private annuities can be problematic was to the fact that they are expensive, especially for people who are buying relatively small annuities, and for women. Because women live longer, private insurance companies charge women more money for annuities than men. I think that in order for people to ensure that their hard earned savings last for their entire lifetime, they should be offered more low-cost options such as annuities that are gender neutral, and that are not charging large fees that make them cost prohibitive.
Finally, I think you should do whatever you want with your money and all I want is for you to have all the information and options available for you to make the best decision for yourself and your family.
Rebecca Davis
Legal Director
Pension Rights Center
1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 206
Washington, DC 20036
(202)296-3776
Well done!
Thanks, Anon, for the info from Ms. Davis!
"I am somewhat perplexed as to why all of a sudden what I said two years ago is making news."
Slow news day, so the rightwing think tank had to DIG up something old to twist into a lie to send out to their credulous idiotic base??
"I did not say that 401(k) plans are unfair for poor people. I did not say that your money should be taken from you and distributed to others."
Tsk tsk: Facts can be so pesky, when the rightwing 1% wants to bamboozle the rubes into voting against their own interests. This narrative from Ms. Davis certainly doesn't play into the meme that ObamaCo is insanely COMMUNIST and out there to RIP OFF WHITE SENIORS!!!111!!!!!
And so: there it is. Factual reality, per usual, does not accord with the fairytale bullshit of some RWF. Color me utterly surprised... NOT!
Duly noted, too, that Ms. Davis suddenly got a flurry of emails from "concerned" citizens who had been deliberately mis-informed by venal scum. No doubt many of them have chosen NOT to believe Ms. Davis, in favor of being still "upset" with the Commie Kenyan Usurper. Fools.
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