Health care today, 401(k)s tomorrow!

ObamaCare passed to the dismay of many as the majority of Americans got a taste of their electoral fruit. The opposition Republican Party was helpless in stopping the health care train wreck because it didn’t have the numbers to prevent it.

You are what you eat, and your country is what you elect.

Now this administration is eying our private retirement accounts as the next nationalization target. No longer satisfied with just taking control over mortgage companies, banks, car companies, and the health care system, President Obama and V.P. Biden are floating an idea to circumvent the collapse of union pensions by seizing private 401(k) assets and turning them into grotesque government-backed monstrosities:

In February, the White House released its “Annual Report on the Middle Class” containing new regulations favored by Big Labor including a bailout of critically underfunded union pension plans through “retirement security” options.

The radical solution most favored by Big Labor is the seizure of private 401(k) plans for government disbursement — which lets them off the hook for their collapsing retirement scheme.  And, of course, the Obama administration is eager to accommodate their buddies.

Vice President Joe Biden floated the idea, called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs), in the February “Middle Class” report.

In conjunction with the report’s release, the Obama administration jointly issued through the Departments of Labor and Treasury a “Request for Information” regarding the “annuitization” of 401(k) plans through “Lifetime Income Options” in the form of a notice to the public of proposed issuance of rules and regulations. (pdf)

History has proven that the government cannot effectively run mortgage companies, banks, car companies, or the health care system. What makes it think it can handle retirement accounts? Furthermore, Americans may put up with a tax code that redistributes wealth and punishes the overachievers, but for the federal government to reach into the retirement accounts and redistribute those savings? I don’t think so.

Luckily, House Republicans are onto it and bringing this to the attention of the American people. This is certainly an issue for all of us to keep an eye on.

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