Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.
As many of our longtime readers know, we pay attention to where our site traffic originates. For instance, we know that many of our newest posts are frequently read on Capitol Hill, which makes sense since we frequently take on a number of public policy topics that are related to current events.
Yesterday and today however, a post we wrote back in November 2008 appears to have caught the imagination of one or more people in the U.S. Senate:
That’s scary because of what the post discussed: a proposal supported by leading Democratic Party legislators seeking to eliminate the tax deduction for 401(k) plans in favor of mandating that all working Americans spend 5% of their income on U.S. savings bonds through Social Security for a new “guaranteed retirement account”. That forced investment program would be added on top of the other taxes Americans currently pay to support the regular Social Security program.
The government would sweeten the pot by adding $600 per year to each of the “guaranteed retirement accounts.”
Here are the two key takeaways we had in analyzing the proposal:
The government would gain from this proposal in two ways. First, by being able to collect tax dollars at the highest marginal rates paid by the former 401(k) investors on their income, the government would expect to see its net tax revenues rise as this amount dwarfs the proposed $600 taxpayer funded annual contribution to each of the individual accounts.
[...]
Second, by requiring all U.S. individuals earning incomes to contribute above and beyond what they already do to support the Social Security program, the government would be able to substantially increase the percentage of debt financing it obtains from domestic sources. The government gains by having this larger, captive source of debt financing to support either new spending programs or to substantially expand existing spending programs.
Going by the distribution of taxpayer household income in 2005, we estimated that this forced investment program would add some $315 billion to the U.S. Treasury each year, just from households with annual incomes between $0 and $500,000.
In return, American “investors” would earn a three percent return on their lifelong “investment”, without adjusting for the effects of inflation over time. (We put the words “investors” and “investment” in quotes because real investing involves people who are free to make real choices – there would be no real choice or freedom under this proposal).
So at best, assuming zero inflation, Americans would see the value of their government “guaranteed retirement accounts” double once every 24 years.
That our post from two years ago is suddenly being reviewed today indicates that this proposal, or one very similar to it, is being actively considered in Washington D.C.
Given the government’s reach into health care, the financial system, the housing market, the auto industry, the insurance industry, et cetera in just the last two years, it appears that having all that under their thumbs just isn’t enough to satisfy the insatiable need for money and control in the nation’s halls of power.
And so we end with the words we wrote for the title of this post. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Everyday OBAMA CHAOS!
Obama Doesn’t CARE that Americans Desperately want Obama to Reduce The Size Of Federal Government, its Huge Out Of Control Spending. Obama’s response to Americans’ is to hugely raise taxes. Obama’s so-called deficit commission recently made proposals to balance the federal budget that include—eliminating home mortgage interest deductions. That would make current and future home ownership unaffordable for millions of Americans, if forced to use (after tax dollars) to pay non-deductible mortgage interests. (No matter how much Obama raises taxes, his Administration will waste it, not reduce debt, but continue to tax Americans until they have nothing left; leaving Citizens insurmountable national debt.
Government’s Elimination of Home Mortgage Interest Deductions would force home buyers to make low ball offers on houses, further driving down residential property values and property taxes local communities depend. More Local Communities would become dependent on federal assistance at federal Taxpayers’ expense. It is foreseeable the U.S. might become a nation of renters. Banks could disintegrate as their inventory of outstanding mortgages secured by (homes) increasingly became worthless. American taxpayers could not possibly cover millions more defaulted home mortgages and pay upkeep on millions more empty houses U.S Government insured. Many Americans strongly believe Obama intends to destroy the U.S. economy to accomplish a leftist ideology. Obama certainly appears headed that direction, taking Americans on a ride into an economic abyss they might never financially recover.
Meanwhile a burgeoning number of U.S. Government bureaucrats continue to live the “Life of Riley” holding U.S. Taxpayers hostage, to pay their large salaries and perks that include great medical and retirement plans.
Its all part of George Soros’s plan to destroy America and the rest of the world too.
The man is mad and should be SHUNDED by every decient American, anybody, he comes near.
Of course the NWO-Elite love him because he thinks he is going to take them into the Glory of the,,, WWE,OWG,, the ‘Wonderfully Wicked and Evil’ One World Government we will all wind up with/in if the devil wins this round.
Anyone posting as “anonymous” should be marked as spam.
“Given the government’s reach into health care, the financial system, the housing market, the auto industry, the insurance industry, et cetera in just the last two years, it appears that having all that under their thumbs just isn’t enough to satisfy the insatiable need for money and control in the nation’s halls of power.”
I think you have it backward. It’s the private sector, the financial industry in particular, that controls the “government”, not vice versa. Any ostensible “regulation” is weak, ineffective and easily circumvented window dressing designed to provide the illusion of “government” authority.
All branches of government have been steadily overtaken by the private sector. This process got its big push in 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act and has accelerated exponentially since the Regan administration. It was greatly advanced by Clinton and reached its peak with Bush II. Private interests now have virtually complete control.
Legislation is written, not by policymakers within the government in response to the needs and wishes of their constituents, but by members of the corporatocracy in response to the demands of the ruling plutocracy. It is simply the job of all politicians, as mere employees of those special interests, to see that this anti-American, anti-Democracy, anti-Life legislation is passed into law with no real debate and without the knowledge or consent of the American people. Another responsibility of our pseudo-government is to put on a great show of partisanship and contention aimed at maintaining the illusion of a choice between two opposing parties. This dog and pony show also includes the obfuscation and outright lying done by both politicians and corporate media. The capitalist propaganda machine is purposed to keeping the people misinformed, ignorant and in constant conflict with each other. Thus they are distracted with infighting and bickering over trivial wedge issues whilst the parasitic aristocracy pushes them ever deeper into poverty and oppression.
America is being added to the ranks of the third world, making it more easily controlled and exploited than a nation of free, critically thoughtful and united people. Ironically, it is often this herding of disparate groups into a single oppressed majority that leads to the resolution of their differences and the creation of common cause. Whether this will be significant in the present instance remains to be seen.
There is no government in amerika.
I think the paranoia in the post is a little much. B4IN folks are always going on about US debt being held by foreigners, China will abandon/destroy the US economy, etc., don’t you think the government should have a plan for bringing that debt all back home?
I’m not saying the idea discussed is good — I don’t even know if it’s true! — but back in the ’80s, Canada addressed it’s bad debt situation with such a programme (after nine years of Conservative rule — pas possible!). Anyway, the incoming Liberal government required a certain percentage of RRSPs to be domestic holdings to qualify for tax deferral. To me, this wasn’t Communism, this was like US war bonds — keeping sovereign debt out of foreign hands. And Canada is looking pretty good right now; Europe and America are having heart palpitations about their debt and currencies, but us in the boring old Great White North.
Anyway, a debt-repatriation programme should be discussed.