Dodd Frank Wants To Get It's Hands On Your 401K

Discussion in 'Politics' started by pspr, Mar 2, 2013.

  1. pspr

    pspr

    Dodd-Frank's new "consumer protection" agency wants to "help" Americans manage their nearly $20 trillion in retirement savings, and President Obama has tax loopholes in his sights.

    It's mattress-stuffing time.

    You probably thought the Dodd-Frank Act was all about reining in greedy big banks and Wall Street predators.

    Well then, what is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau it established doing planning to "help" people manage the $19.4 trillion they've managed to save for their retirement?

    CFPB director and longtime Democratic politician Richard Cordray earlier this month told Bloomberg News that managing retirement savings is "one of the things we've been exploring ... in terms of whether and what authority we have."

    Every such new creature legislated into existence by our elected officials wastes little time before seeking to expand its power — always with the best intentions, of course.

    There always ends up being an excuse to do things the law doesn't give you any authority for, and the CFPB's Office for Older Americans being headed by another big government Democrat, Hubert H. Humphrey III, is further cause for worry.

    What business, exactly, does a U.S. government that has rung up over $16.6 trillion in red ink have giving consumers advice on how to save money?

    Uncle Sam, Spendthrift

    What can a consumer learn about frugality and responsibility from a corrupt, insatiable Washington leviathan that screams about the sky falling when just 2% in automatic spending cuts kick in?

    In this context comes the release of a report from the liberal Brookings Institution last week suggesting a 28% cap on "the rate at which deductions and exclusions related to retirement saving reduce a taxpayer's income tax liability."

    Don't worry, Brookings says, because "the (mostly high-income) individuals that do alter contributions in response to changes in the return on these investments tend to simply offset these adjustments with changes in other forms of saving."

    And "the available evidence from studies of 401(k)-type programs with automatic enrollment suggests that many would stay with the program and, in turn, increase their saving."

    Elsewhere, the think tank recently argued that "New research suggests that the tax subsidy for contributions to retirement accounts only affects the behavior of certain financially sophisticated households and does not raise overall saving significantly."

    Savings Tax?

    As American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries CEO Brian H. Graff charged last week, such a cash grab "would more accurately be described as double taxation" in which "a small-business owner in the 39.6% bracket would pay an 11.6% tax on contributions made to the 401(k) plan today, and pay tax again at the full rate when they retire."

    But 401(k)s come behind only the mortgage interest deduction and the employer health insurance exclusion as federal tax breaks go, amounting to "$429 billion in foregone revenue from 2013 through 2017," as Employee Benefit News points out.

    It was inevitable that these popular retirement nest eggs would be targeted for raiding.

    We even have the unreal spectacle of the mutual fund industry frantically justifying its existence in the wake of President Obama talking up the closing of tax loopholes.

    Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens said, "we're trying to counter all of the doom and gloom about the 401(k) system being a failure and that it doesn't work."

    Doesn't work?

    Mutual funds, especially when shielded from taxes, have, like discount brokerages, opened the door of successful investing to millions of ordinary Americans.

    They have brought the American Dream to new heights.

    What doesn't work is the government, which should be told to stuff its offer of help at managing people's money. Better to have Typhoid Mary run the Centers for Disease Control.


    http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...bureaucracy-targeting-401k-savings.htm?p=full
     
  2. That's odd I was just researching that this morning.
    My thoughts are likely to piss off just about every narrow interest group.
     
  3. Arnie

    Arnie

    I've been saying it for years. They will have to go where the money is. And the money is in the middle class. 401k's, tax deferrals for college, children, employer paid HC, mortgage int deduction, etc...

    There is no way they can come right out and say "we are going to tax your retirement accounts".

    What they will do is start with a "wealth tax", and of course it will only apply to the "rich". But they will use your retirement accnt balance to figure out who is "rich".

    I think some people with Roths are in for a very rude surprise.
     
  4. pspr

    pspr

    Financial advisors are suggesting Roths because they make the most sense with the current rules. But you just can't trust the Govenment anymore. They might start with saying, "we'll just tax withdrawls a little." Then the would have their foot in the door.

    Wanting to take over management of 401K's is really frightening too. Who knows where that would lead. Probably eventual confiscation and conversion to SS.
     
  5. Well that is exactly the plan that was floated to congress in testimony.

    http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp204/bp204.pdf


     
  6. 401ks declined in value during the 2008 crashette... but most have virtually fully recovered since. That still a reason to "protect citizens from themselves?"

    GREEDY BASTARDS!



    :mad:
     
  7. All you have to know about this is Obama's track record. Every proposal he has made involves some form of taxing richer, older Americans, who tend to vote republican, to provide freebies to his constituencies.

    Of course he will try to impose some form of wealth tax to grab those enormous 401k and IRA pools. After all, he was just reelected on a raw class hatred, hugo chavez stule platform, so why wouldn't he? He can say he got a mandate.
     
  8. That's what he meant when he promised "fundamental transformation" of America.
     
  9. when this plan passes either house, I'm liquidating it and probably sending it overseas.
     
  10. LEAPup

    LEAPup

    Read about this in IBD. All I can say is this tyrannical government must be praying for a civil war. Let's see... they want to disarm the sheeple. Now we see why. So the Nazis can take away the people's money, and not have to worry about retaliation.:mad: :mad: :mad:
     
    #10     Mar 3, 2013