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 lineup 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.
|
Posts
4 comments:
Confiscating retirement money? Messing with Social Security? Sounds like a Republican wet dream.
Money quote:
The "liberal" Pension Rights Center.
God forbid, an agency that advocates for the retirement security of American workers and is directly allied with AARP.
At any rate:
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/no-government-401k-takeover/
Yes, I'm sure this will happen, because:
1. President Obama, Socialist that he is, will propose it
2. Congress, which always passes everything the President wants passed, will pass the bill without debate.
3. The Republicans will all go along with it, because they're not the sorts of people who like to rock the boat.
Sure. Sounds like the inevitable to me.
The following is someone commenting to this article:
http://www.dailypaul.com/263409/obama-begins-push-to-confiscate-ira-s-401k-s
Although I have no idea who "Spiff" is, he seems to me to be someone who is asking the correct questions. This junk was originally brought up by "Dr. Crone" (gee, what an interesting name for someone who is appealing to Seniors...) in October 2010. It's not something new, much less factual (heaven forfend) or worth paying attention to:
Is this astroturf? Who is NSC and who is Robert Crone?
Submitted by Spiff on Sat, 11/17/2012
"I'm trying to find out more about the hearing, and all I'm finding is a bunch of sites blindly linking to this National Seniors Council. Digging through their website, it seems like it's something of a virtual corporation with no real people behind it. I can't find evidence that this "National Director" Robert Crone actually exists. The only real person they link to on their website is someone at an inside-the-beltway astroturf PR/lobbying firm (an inside-the-beltway PR firm that claims to "Grassroots Lobbying" doesn't understand the meaning of "grassroots") named Trio Strategies.
"The address given for NSC -- 1100 North Glebe Road, Suite 1010, Arlington, Virginia 22201 -- that exact suite -- is shared with dozens of other firms. It appears to be run by a company called "Intelligent Office" that provides "virtual receptionist" services.
"Something stinks about this whole thing. Can anyone independently confirm that this hearing took place?
"Oh hey, as I was writing this, I did some more digging and found that this article at NSC was originally posted over 2 years ago (October 2010). I don't understand why it got picked up and is being trotted around again now.
"Overall, I think NSC might just be a way for Trio Strategies to get people to contribute to their fake lobbying org and "sign petitions" to create a mailing list of easily duped senior citizens, which they sell:
http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&...
"This whole thing stinks."
Yes, Mr. Spiff, like most rightwing "think" tank b.s. baloney, it all STINKS to high heaven and is mainly way of separating the Benjamens from the credulous, racist, bigoted rightwing rubes.
Post a Comment